


If I Could Fly

by Ashleyparker2815



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Adoption, Adoption inaccuracies, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddles, Evil Ben Parker, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Peter Parker, Kinda, May Parker and Ben Parker are Peter’s biological parents, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Is 6, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleyparker2815/pseuds/Ashleyparker2815
Summary: Peter was adopted by Tony and Pepper Stark when he was only days old. He has a life with them but his world gets ripped apart after his biological parents; May and Ben Parker want custody of their son back.
Relationships: May Parker/Ben Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Ben Parker, Peter Parker & May Parker, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 113
Kudos: 400
Collections: All Marvel works that I like (or most of them)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this fic is not my idea, it’s from the movie Like Dandelion Fluff and it’s just how I think it would happen if it were Peter and his parents. Some of it is the same from the movie but I did change a few things in it. 
> 
> If you haven’t watched the movie then you should watch it after you read this fic just so you don’t know what’s gonna happen:) but if you want to watch it then you obviously can! 
> 
> In this fic there is no Iron Man or Spider-Man or anything like that. Tony is still a billionaire thooo!! Alsooo ok so Ben and May Parker are Peter’s real parents and Tony and Pepper adopted him and the rest will be explained:) 
> 
> The title is from One Directions song called If I could fly and then the lyrics if I could fly, I’d be coming right back home to you

“Hey, Pete! You better run because I’m coming to get you!” Tony warned the boy before he heard a loud giggle escape from Peter’s mouth then he started running along the beach. 

Tony chased after his kid, feeling his bare feet hit the sand with each step. He finally caught up to the boy and grabbed him from around the waist, lifting him into the air. 

“I got you!” Tony cheered as he pressed a bunch of kisses to Peter’s exposed belly. 

“Daddy! S-Stop! Tickles!” Peter managed to get out between his laughs. 

On the corner of Tony’s eye, he could see Pepper walking towards them on the beach. Her long white beach dress blowing in the wind along with her strawberry blonde hair. “Hey, boys. The sun is setting, you know what that means.” 

Tony held Peter so that the six year old was sitting with a leg on each side of Tony’s waist while Tony supported his butt with his arms. 

Peter put his hands on his hips as he looked at his dad. Tony leaned forward and kissed him on the nose. “Mommy’s coming to save you.” 

As soon as Pepper was in reach, Peter reached his arms out to be transferred to his mom's arms instead. Pepper took him from Tony’s arms and placed their child on her hip. “Did you guys have fun out here?” 

Peter nodded with a yawn. “Yeah. Me and daddy went swimming in the ocean without my life jacket, mommy!” 

Pepper turned towards Tony to give the man a dirty look. “Oh really? Because daddy knows you have to always keep your life jacket on when you’re swimming, baby.” 

Peter didn’t say anything but lean his head against Peppers shoulder. Tony held up his hands in defence. “Hey, I was there with him the whole time plus don’t you play innocent, little bugger, you begged me to let you swim without it.” 

Tony playfully pinched Peter’s leg and after Peter grinned at him, he reached his arms out towards him. Wanting to be back in his dad's arms rather than his moms. Tony happily accepted Peter back in his arms again. 

Peter had always been a daddy’s boy. Right from the day they brought him home at just three days old. Tony was always the one who was able to calm Peter down or make him laugh. They were best friends right from day one and nothing was ever going to change that or come between them. 

.  
.  
.

After Tony gave Peter his bath and tucked him into bed, making sure to turn on his outer space night light and to keep the door fully open just in case Peter needed to make a mad dash into his parents bedroom due to a nightmare during the middle of the night that happened more often than Tony and Pepper would like. 

Tony finished off with his shower and then sat down next to his wife on the couch downstairs. He kissed her on the cheek and then ever so gently turned her chin over so he could press more kisses to her lips. 

She pulled away with a smile. “Is your other half asleep?” 

Tony got more comfortable on the couch, wrapping an arm around Peppers shoulders. “For now. I give it an hour before he’s waking up and searching for us.” 

Pepper hummed. She continued to type away on her computer and Tony could tell that she was distracted so he turned towards her. “What’re you doing?” 

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, thinking about how to explain to Tony what’s on her mind. “I’m just thinking.” 

Tony waited patiently for her to continue. “If us moving back to Miami was the right choice. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. With you and Peter, us as a family. I’m happy but lately I’ve been feeling… off. I don’t know.” 

“We have a life here now. We moved in a week before Peter was born. Remember how crazy that week was with us running around and trying to get the house and nursery ready for our boy?” Both of them laughed at the memory. They couldn’t decide what colour to paint Peter’s nursery so they ended up painting it a mixture of every colour and Peter still had it that way today. 

Tony continued. “We build our life here. Made memories. Good and bad but obviously I like to only think about the good ones. Our old life was in New York, I don’t want to go back. We have our friends here too, Peter has his friends here.” 

Pepper leaned her head against Tony’s shoulder and nodded. “I know. And I don’t want to leave, I love living right in front of the beach and watching you two play together, I just, I don’t know. It’s this weird feeling I have at the back of my mind.” 

Tony rubbed her neck as if it would take away all of Peppers worries. “How long have you been feeling this way for?” 

Pepper thought about it. “About two weeks. I didn’t say anything because I thought it would go away. But it hasn’t.” 

“Yet.” Tony added. “And it will go away-”

Tony was cut off by a small whimper. “Daddy?”

Both adults turned around to see their son standing by the entrance of the living room, rubbing his eyes and dressed in his spaceship pyjamas. “Come here, bud.” Tony held just arms out for Peter and Peter wasted no time running the distance and letting Tony pull him into his lap. 

“Daddy.” Peter whimpered into Tony’s neck and wrapped his tiny arms around the man’s neck as well. “I-I had a nightmare again.” 

Tony rubbed Peter’s back and then stood up with him on his hip. “You can sleep with us tonight, baby.” 

He then carried Peter up to their bed with Pepper following behind them. It was a usual night occurrence so they were used to it by that point but as long as Peter was safe and happy then Tony didn’t care if Peter slept with them until he was thirty. 

.  
.  
.

May was waiting outside of the gates of the prison as she stared at a picture of her and her baby boy the day of his birth. The day she decided to give him up for adoption so he could have a better life. 

A tiny part of her regretted doing that everyday but she always tried to push those thoughts aside because she knew, or at least hoped that her boy was happy and with a family that loves him endlessly. 

As soon as she heard the jail doors open, she shoved the picture in her wallet and put it in her pocket. This was it. This was the day she was going to be reunited with her husband after seven years of being in lockup. 

Part of her wanted to run and never look back but she knew she couldn’t do that to Ben. Ben was her husband no matter what happened, they made vows to love each other no matter what. Through the good and the bad. 

The sun was setting outside and it had just rained so the sky was a darkish orange. May hugged her arms around herself and tried to prepare for what was about to happen. 

The guards opened the gate and then out walked Ben, holding a single box of his belongings. The two made eye contact and for a second, May felt her heart drop. She regretted coming to pick Ben up after everything that he did to her, everything that he put her through but now here he was, standing in front of her after having not seen each other for over six years. 

Ben let out a sob and fell into Mays arms. She stayed still, too shocked to move at first but then she brought her arms up and hugged Ben back. 

“I didn’t think you were going to come.” Ben said, more of a silent ‘thank you’ for her coming. “I thought I was going to get out of here and I was going to be alone.” 

She squeezed him back a little tighter. “I was always going to come.” 

Ben pulled away and looked at May. He looked older. May knew that obviously he would since it’s been seven years but she just really realizing it now. “I was so scared last night that when I came out… you wouldn’t be here and I’d be alone.” 

May nodded, tears burning her eyes. “I know but I’m h-here now. I told you I’d come.” 

Ben kissed her on the cheek before wrapping her in a hug again. “I know. I know.” 

There was silence between the two for a few long minutes before May spoke. “Let’s go home, okay?”

Ben nodded then got into the driver's seat of the car while May got into the passenger seat and they started driving back home together after seven years. It was an awkward and uncomfortable car ride. May tried not to cry but she didn’t even know why she felt the need to cry. She couldn’t tell if she was happy or not. 

The silence was almost painful to sit in so she broke it by speaking. “Ben I… I’m sorry. For-for everything, I-”

Ben pulled over on the side of the road and put the car in park. “No. Stop. Baby, don’t be sorry, alright. I was a different man back then. Before I went away. I’m a changed man now and I understand that I hurt you. I know I did and I’m sorry. I’m-I’m going to work on my drinking.” 

May shut her eyes as she took in a shaky breath. She thought about the day Ben was arrested and how much screaming and hitting that had been done that day. Seven years ago. 

“Baby, please.” Ben reached over to place his hand on Mays legs. She flinched at the sudden touch and he immediately pulled his hand away. 

“I’m sorry. I just-” 

Ben cut May off. “Don’t be sorry. We’ll make this work. We can start over together.” 

May nodded but she wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted. No words were said between the two of them the rest of the drive home to their small house in Queens, New York. 

The dark sky had cleared up by the time they made it home but that still didn’t put May in a better mood. She couldn’t get the feeling out of her head that she was making a huge mistake by staying with Ben although she tossed it off as everything just being new to her with her husband being out of jail and back at home. 

Their dog had attacked Ben when they first arrived at home. The dog had bitten Ben on the nose when he went to pick it up and May knew it was because of the dog’s memory of Ben. Ben never hurt their dog but the dog was around every time he hurt May. 

When they got inside the house, Ben walked around the place as if he was trying to remember the details of he place and if May had done anything different while he was gone all those years. 

Later that night, May and Ben were lying in bed and talking. May was feeling surprisingly content. Everything was starting to feel okay until it wasn’t.

“I was thinking,” Ben started. “We should start a new life. After I start working again and we get into our old routine, how about we start trying again?” 

May froze. Try for a baby. “Really?” 

“Yeah, I’m a new man and he’ll take after me.” May could tell Ben was smiling while he was talking. 

“You-you want a baby boy?” May asked, already knowing the answer but hating it since it brought back too many regrets. 

“Yeah. I mean every guy wants a son, right?” He gently shook Mays arm. “Plus it’ll be perfect. You and me with our little boy.” 

May didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say and so the conversation wasn’t brought up again for the next two weeks. 

It was Saturday night and Ben was starting his new job on Monday so they were celebrating their life starting over again by going out for dinner and then dancing. It was nice, May was actually enjoying herself and she could see a real change in Ben over the past two weeks. She was almost happy. 

The night was coming to an end but as soon as the music stopped and they were back in their truck on their way home, May was starting to feel guilty. 

She couldn’t keep lying to Ben anymore. 

“I need to talk to you about something.” May started. They were sitting in the parked car, getting ready to go home. 

Ben looked worried. “What is it?” 

When May didn’t immediately start talking, Ben sat up straighter and ran a hand down his face. “Because whatever it is, you can talk to me. I know I haven’t been easy to talk to in the past but I’m a different man now. You know I am.” 

May nodded. She took a breath. “After you went away… it was really hard for me.” 

“I know and I’m sorry-” 

May cut him off by raising her hand to silence him. “Stop, baby. Please. It was really hard for me and it was hard to find work and-and… then I found out I was pregnant.” 

May blinked away the tears that were forming in her eyes while she watched Ben. His posture immediately changed and she was trying to figure out if Ben was angry or not. He was running a hand up and down his face and shaking his head. 

“A… a baby? You-you had a baby?” He asked carefully. 

May nodded. “I didn’t want to get an abortion because it was part of you and me. I gave birth to him on August 10th.” 

“Him? You said him. It was a boy?” May hated herself for giving up their child but at the time it seemed like the only option. 

She nodded her head and let out a sob. “I-I signed the paperwork for him to be put up for adoption and then the day after I gave birth, they took him from me.” 

Ben was crying now too. May hated herself for this. “I’m sorry, Ben.” 

He shook his head. “I didn’t sign anything while I was away. I didn’t sign anything, baby. That means we can still get him back. We can get our baby boy back.” 

Ben held out his arms for May to lean against him. 

“We’re gonna get our son back.” Ben whispered with confidence into Mays ear.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii guys:) I hope everyone is doing okkk:) 
> 
> Ahhhh it’s RDJ’s birthday today!!! I wonder if he ate an Iron Man cake

Pepper and Peter were coming home from the park with one of Peter’s friends when halfway home Peter had been complaining about needing to use the bathroom. 

Pepper tried to drive faster but it would be no surprise if Peter couldn’t hold it and ended up wetting his pants. 

When they got home and Peter was still dry, Pepper quickly helped him out of his car seat and lifted him out of the car. 

“I gotta go! I gotta go! I gotta go!” Peter grabbed between his legs to stop himself from accidentally wedding his pants as he waited for his mommy to unlock the door and then he was running towards the closet bathroom. 

Pepper smiled at her baby, hoping that he made it the rest of the way while she went to go get lunch started in the kitchen. After she finished washing her hands, she saw that there was a message on the home phone so she dried her hands and pressed the play button to listen to it. 

“Hello, Mrs. Stark. This is Maria Hill from social services calling about Peter Stark-” Pepper felt her heart drop as she picked up the phone so she could listen to the message on the phone instead of the speaker. 

As she listened to Maria Hill speak, her heart was breaking and she couldn’t stop the silent sob that escaped from her mouth. She tried to cover it with her hand so Peter wouldn’t come out and hear her crying. 

Maria Hill mentioned that there was an error with the adoption papers and that Peter’s biological parents were trying to fight for custody. She hung the phone up and sank down to her knees. 

Peter’s biological parents were trying to take him from me, was all Pepper thought as she tried not to break down on the kitchen floor with Peter just a few feet away from her. 

She stood up and took a few calming breaths then went to go find Peter. She had to be brave for him right now. He couldn’t know. 

“Mommy! I didn’t make it all the way!” Peter called out from the bathroom as Pepper was making her way over to him. Once Peter saw that she was there, he explained what happened. “My underwear got my pee on it so I need to change.” 

Pepper nodded her head, too afraid to speak but Peter, the smart and observant child that he is, picked up on her mood and looked up at her concerned. “What’s wrong, mommy? Are you mad at me for not making it to the bathroom again?” 

Pepper shook her head, smiling at Peter, despite her mood. “No, baby. Never. Here, let’s get you out of these.” 

Peter let Pepper help him get out of his pants and wet underwear but then the front door was being opened and Tony was walking in, dressed in his suit from his business meeting. 

As soon as Pepper turned around and saw her husband, she couldn’t hold it together anymore and she let out a loud sob then got off the floor and ran up the stairs to her bedroom so she could break down in peace. 

She knew Tony was there to take care of Peter and she just couldn’t hold it together anymore. 

Tony watched Pepper dash up the stairs and then he turned to his son, confused. Peter was standing in the bathroom in just a T-shirt with his pants and underwear in a pile on the floor. 

“What’s going on, bud?” Tony asked confused and kneeled down so he was closer to Peter’s height. 

Peter shrugged. “I dunno. Mommy’s mad at me because I didn’t make it to the potty.” 

Tony shook his head, knowing that Pepper would never be mad at their son for having an accident after it was very clear from him standing in the bathroom that he tried to make it in time. “No, buddy. Mommy’s not mad at you for that.” 

Peter nodded his head, his eyes starting to water and his bottom lip beginning to tremble. “Y-yeah she is. She was happy but then I told her I peed in my underwear and she got really sad.” 

Tony shook his head again. He knew that there was another reason for Pepper to be upset about. “I promise you she’s not mad at you, baby. How about we go get you changed into some clean clothes and then I’ll go talk to her?” 

Peter nodded his head and held his hand out for his daddy to take which Tony immediately did. Tony picked up Peter’s dirty underwear and pants and carried them upstairs to put in dirty laundry. 

As soon as they got to the top of the stairs, Peter let go of Tony’s hand and made a beeline for his parents bedroom where he knew his mommy would be. 

“Pete, where are you going?” 

“I need to say sorry to mommy.” Peter explained then went to open the bedroom door but Tony stopped him. Tony didn’t know what happened to his wife but whatever it was, he didn’t want Peter to see that right now so he picked Peter up and placed him on his hip.

“Let’s give mommy some time and go get some pants on first.” Tony kissed Peter’s forehead and carried him into his bedroom where he set Peter back down on his feet. 

Tony grabbed some wipes and handed them to Peter so he could clean himself off while he gets Peter some new underwear and pants. 

“Is mommy mad at me? Because-because I really didn’t mean to, daddy.” Peter asked. Tony knew that Peter didn’t mean to and they’ve never been mad at him for it but clearly him and Pepper never made that clear because now his kid thinks that he could get in trouble for something as silly as an accident. 

“No, baby. You know that we’d never be mad at you for this. Mommy’s sad about something else, okay?” Tony tried to reassure Peter but he was still worried about why Pepper had run away like that. 

Peter nodded his head and finished cleaning himself off so Tony helped him into his clean underwear and pants before setting him up with some legos while he goes to talk to Pepper. 

Tony had absolutely no idea what caused Pepper to run off and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t worry him as to why she ran off. 

Once he got to his bedroom, Tony knocked lightly then opened the door without waiting for a reply. He walked in, shutting the door behind him and taking in the scene. Pepper had sat up in bed so that she was now looking at Tony with red rimmed eyes and was clenching a Kleenex in her hands as if her life depended on it. 

Tony sat at the edge of the bed and looked at her. “Pep. What happened? What’s going on?” 

She didn’t look at him as she spoke. “Is Peter okay?” 

Tony nodded and moved closer to her on the bed. “Yeah, he just had an accident. He’s in his room playing.” 

She nodded but didn’t say anything and it didn’t look like she was going to say anything else so Tony spoke again. “Pepper, tell me what happened.” 

“I… Peter and I got back from the park and he needed to go pee so while he was in the bathroom, I went to get lunch started in the kitchen,” Pepper paused and let out a quiet sob. “There was a message on the phone. And-and it was Maria Hill from social services, they…” 

Pepper trailed off and let out another sob. She stood up off the bed and began to pace. “I can’t.” 

“Pepper, I have no idea-”

“Peter’s biological parents are fighting for custody of him!” Pepper blurted out before sinking back down onto the bed with loud broken cries. 

Tony was frozen. He was trying to process what Pepper just said but it was like it went in one ear and out the other because he couldn’t seem to understand what she had just said. He wouldn’t believe it. 

“No. There must be some mistake because that’s not possible.” Tony was in denial. No way. 

“It is possible, Tony. The social worker called us today. This is happening.” She explained through her cries. 

Tony shook his head, still refusing to believe it. “We adopted him. He’s our kid. His biological parents can’t just… want him back! This isn’t how it works!” 

Tony started pacing himself. He ran his hands through his hair and down his face because this was not happening. That’s not how adoption works. 

“It’s not supposed to but-but there was a… technical error in his adoption papers, Tony.” Pepper regained some of her composure and wiped the tears off her face. 

Tony spun around to glare at her with anger but the anger wasn’t directed at her. “What do you mean technical error? How does that happen.” 

Before Pepper got the chance to respond, their bedroom door was being opened and in walked Peter holding his teddy bear to his chest. “Daddy?” 

As if a switch had been turned off, all the anger drained from Tony’s body when he set his eyes on Peter. He immediately held out his arms for his baby and picked Peter up, holding him on his hip. 

Peter was looking at Pepper. “I’m sorry, mommy. Please don’t be mad at me.” 

Pepper shook her head, holding her arms out for Peter. “Don’t be sorry, baby. Mommy’s sorry she ran away like that. I just got a call from someone I don’t like very much and it upset me.” 

Tony sat down on the bed next to Pepper so that he was still holding Peter on his lap but Pepper could hug her son. Tony didn’t want to let go of his baby. 

.  
.  
.

Maria Hill was standing in front of the Parkers small, run down house in the middle of Queens. 

She wasn’t in favour of this couple fighting for custody of their biological son after he’s already had a life and has parents that love him tremendously. It wasn’t fair to the child. 

Either way, she had a job to do and her job was to check out this couple's home and deem it safe enough for a child to live there. 

When the door opened and revealed Mrs. Parker and Mr. Parker standing there with smiles on their faces, the first thought Maria had was that they seemed like a sweet, happy couple but she knew the reason for Ben Parker ending up in jail. 

Ben had a long history of alcohol abuse and after many phone calls to the police for domestic violence, he was finally arrested and put in jail. That was seven years ago but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still carry those traits. 

May held out her hand. “Hello. Nice to meet you, I’m May.” 

Maria shook her hand. “I’m Maria Hill. It’s nice to meet you.” 

After shaking Ben's hand as well, she stepped into the home. It was poor looking. The couch looks like it’s seen better days and the tv was old fashioned as well as most of the furniture but it was still standing so Maria had to give them the benefit of the doubt. 

The two of them lead her into the kitchen, passing a fish tank along the way. Ben pointed to it proudly. “This is our fish tank, we’ve been meaning to get some new fish for it.” 

Maria nodded then continued walking into the kitchen. She turned to them. “Have you thought about schools at all?” 

May nodded excitedly. “Yes. I’ve actually gone and checked out some of the schools close by. There’s this really good public school about two blocks from here. It’ll be a nice walk to and from school with him.” 

Maria nodded and wrote a few things down then she continued to look at the kitchen and in the cabinets and fridge. “What would his diet consist of?” 

May spoke up again. “I’ve given that a lot of thought. We want to cut fast food out, no more fried food. He’ll be eating grains, fruits and veggies. Healthy stuff like that.” 

Maria wrote some more things down but then Ben was showing her child safety locks. “I installed these myself. There all around the house. Except in his bedroom which is still in the process of being done.” 

May grabbed Ben's hand and leaned against him. “We even got him a new train set today.” 

“You know, Mr and Mrs. Parker,” Maria began. “there’s a lot more to raising a child than toys and safety locks. You have to give him love and attention and show him that you care about him.” 

Both of them looked offended but that was expected. “We know that.” May said, sounding hurt. 

“Do you?” Maria asked seriously. “Peter is six years old. He comes from a very wealthy family who can provide the best kind of care for him. He goes to a private school, he has all of his friends in his neighborhood. His parents love him more than anything and you’d be ripping that boy out of the only life he knows. You’d be ripping him away from his parents.” 

“We’re his parents.” Ben said with anger behind his words. 

Maria only looked at him. “Not to him you’re not. You didn’t raise him. He doesn’t know you.” 

It was awful but necessary for Maria to say. The Parkers had to understand what they were trying to do, it was going to tear Peter apart and they needed to know that. 

.  
.  
.

“So how is this our fault? Why are we supposed to be the ones who suffer because of their mistake?” Tony asked to no one in particular. He was speaking out loud and he was pretty sure that he was going crazy in the process of this whole thing. 

It’s been a week since they first found out about what their son’s biological parents were trying to do. It was ridiculous and it wasn’t even about any of them. It was about Peter and what it was going to do to him if he had to go and live with them. It would break him. 

Tony checked the time. It was 5pm meaning that him and Pepper had to go pick Peter up from the neighbours house in an hour. 

Peter spent basically the whole week there when he wasn’t at school because Tony and Pepper had been busy making phone calls and setting up meetings, meeting with lawyers and social services to try and figure out how to stop these people from taking their kid but it wasn’t looking good for them. 

Peter had yet to know anything about what was happening because telling him would mean they lost. Telling him would mean that their baby had to leave them. 

“Stark, are you listening to me?” Their lawyer, Clint Barton asked Tony, pulling him from his horrible thoughts. 

“Yeah. What?” Tony didn’t have much patience left. 

“I’m telling you that this isn’t working. There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing no one can do anymore.” Clint explained but Tony refused to believe it. 

“Some idiot messed up the adoption papers that no one knew about until a few weeks ago and now Peter’s gonna have to pay the price.” Tony didn’t want to think about that. He knew who the biological parents were, a drunk and a person who was in love with a drunk. 

“Tony,” Pepper tried to calm him but he shook her off. 

“No. Stop. Figure something out, Clint. Pull some strings, talk to the big guys. I’ll give you whatever money you need just… please. I’m desperate. Come on.” Tony whispered the last sentence. He wasn’t the begging type but he was ready to get down in his knees and beg whoever he has to beg to keep his son with him. 

Clint gave him a sad look. “I’m sorry. I’ve done eight cases like this and in every single case the parental rights were granted to the biological parents.” 

Pepper let out a sob and excused herself from the table to go somewhere to break down but Tony wasn’t going down without a fight. 

He slammed his hand down as he stood up. “Then make this the case that you win. Make this your one in nine cases. Don’t give up on Peter.” 

Clint was shaking his head at Tony so he sat back down. “I’m sorry. There isn’t anything I can do, Tony. My advice is to tell Peter. Explain to him what’s going to happen so it doesn’t come as a punch to the face when it’s time for him to go.” 

Tony knew he shouldn’t go here but he was so desperate. “What if this was you? What if it was your kid, Cooper? Lila? What if it were Nate?” 

“Don’t do that, man.” Clint said desperately. 

Tony didn’t stop. “What if it were Nate and someone in another state was trying to take him away from you?” 

Clint stood up and was gathering his stuff to leave. “Take my advice, Tony. Tell Peter. Be there for him while you can.” 

Tony didn’t say anything else as he watched Clint leave. 

He wasn’t ready to lose this fight yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your nice comments on the last chapter:) I’m glad you guys like this fic


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii guys!! This chapter isn’t that long so I’ll post the next chapter on Saturday:))

Tony day at the dining room table and tried to stay sane. 

He was going to lose Peter. He was going to lose his baby and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. 

Tony didn’t know what to do but what he did know was that he had to see his kid. He had to hold him in his arms while he still can. 

So he stood up and walked to the front door to go get his kid. Just as he was about to leave the house, Pepper walked down the stairs and stopped him. 

“Where are you going?” She asked as she wiped away some leftover tears. 

“I’m going to get our kid.” Tony responded angrily but he wasn’t mad at her. Just life in general. 

“I’m coming with you.” Pepper said and then the two of them were walking the short five minute walk to pick their kid up. 

The walk was silent between the two of them as it was many other times before but this time the silence was tense. They were both lost in their thoughts about what was about to happen and how they were powerless to stop it. 

There was no physical contact between the two of them the whole walk to Peter’s friends house. Once they arrived, Tony rang the doorbell and they waited for it to be opened. 

Natasha opened the door and stepped aside to let them inside. “Peter! Your mommy and daddy are here!” 

Pepper faked a smile for their neighbour but Tony could care less about that. He wanted to see his son. There was the sound of tiny socked feet making a dash towards him so Tony turned towards the sound and saw Peter running towards him. 

A real smile broke out across Tony’s face. “Daddy!” 

Tony leaned down just in time for Peter to jump into his arms. Tony lifted his baby into his arms and hugged him tightly. “Hi baby. I missed you. Let’s go home.” 

Tony walked out the front door without saying anything to Natasha. Pepper grabbed Peter’s shoes and then they were heading home. 

“Hi mommy! Me and Ethan built a huge LEGO castle! It was so cool! And I even went to the bathroom all by myself!” Peter explained excitedly in Tony’s arms before resting his head on Tony’s shoulder. 

Tony patted Peter’s back. “It sounds like you had a lot of fun, buddy.” 

“You’re such a big boy, Peter. Daddy and I are so proud of you for using the bathroom by yourself.” Pepper reached over to hold her son's tiny hand in hers. 

Once they got home, Tony carried Peter upstairs into their bedroom and then into the bathroom so they could give Peter a bath and then they had to tell him the news. 

Tony placed Peter on his feet and started the bath water. “Let’s get you undressed so you can get nice and clean.” 

Peter shook his head. “I wanna pick out my bath toys first.” 

Tony sat on the toilet seat as he waited patiently for Peter to dig in his bath basket to find what he wanted to play with tonight. He pulled out his magnetic fish and fishing rod which was Tony’s favourite bath toy of Peter’s because he always played with him too but something told Tony tonight that he wouldn’t be playing with Peter. 

Tony tried to remain in the moment and be happy but it was hard with what was going on and Peter had no idea that his whole life was about to be ripped out from under his feet. 

“Daddy, I’m ready now.” Peter pulled Tony from his thoughts as he held his arms above his head for Tony to help him take off his shirt and then while Tony was turning off the bath, Peter took off his pants and underwear himself. 

Pepper walked into the bathroom with Peter’s after bath cream and his fluffy towel. “Did you pick out your bath toys?” 

Peter nodded excitedly then grabbed all of his fish and placed them into the bath before climbing in himself.

Tony tried to keep a smiling on his face but it was kinda hard because he knew that they had to tell Peter what would be happening in the next few days and what it could possibly lead to but there was no way Tony was going to let it lead to that. He wasn’t going to lose his baby. 

After bath time was over, Tony could tell that Peter had picked up on his bad mood because Peter had gone quiet and was looking up at him every so often. 

Pepper had put Peter’s after bath cream on him and helped him into some pyjamas. Peter jumped onto his parents bed and sat next to Tony. “Hi daddy.” 

“Hi baby. Come here. Mommy and daddy need to talk to you about something.” Tony couldn’t look at Peter. It was his job as a father to protect his baby and he was failing at that. 

Peter’s bottom lip wobbled as he crawled over to Tony and sat on his lap so that he was facing him. “Am I in trouble?” 

Pepper sat on the bed as well so that she was sitting next to Tony. “No, beautiful boy. You’re not in trouble.” 

Peter nodded his head but the wobble didn’t leave his lip so Tony began. “There’s this woman and her husband who live in New York and mommy and daddy are friends with them so when the woman asked us if you could spend a few days with them, we agreed.” 

Peter was looking at Tony confused. Tony continued before Peter started asking questions. “They are a very nice couple, baby, and they really want to see you.” 

Peter tilted his head in confusion. “Why do they want to see me?” 

“Because, baby,” Tony didn’t know what to say. He looked away from Peter and grabbed onto his tiny hands. “because you won’t remember but they knew you when you were a tiny baby.” 

Peter seemed to think about it for a few seconds. “Where’s New York?” 

“It’s um, it’s about a three hour plane ride from home.” Tony explained to his son who was concentrating so hard on the new information that he had been told. 

After a few long seconds, Peter shook his head. “No. I don’t want to go to New York.” 

Pepper let out a sob and tried to silence it by covering her mouth. Peter looked over at her in concern. “Mommy? What’s wrong?” 

Pepper started getting out of bed. “I’m sorry, baby. I-I can’t.” 

Peter and Tony both watched Pepper leave and then Peter turned to Tony with wide eyes. “Why’s mommy sad, daddy?” 

Tony felt the tears burning his own eyes. “Mommy’s just sad because she’s going to miss you, baby. And so am I.” 

“But daddy, I’m not going nowhere.” Peter said desperately and Tony could tell that it was all starting to sink in for Peter. 

“Baby, you have to go to New York to see the couple. I know it’ll be scary at first but you’ll have fun, okay?” Tony tried to reassure Peter. 

“No, daddy.” Peter shook his head and grabbed onto the front of Tonys top. “I don’t wanna go. I wanna stay here with you and mommy. Please daddy.” 

It was Tony's turn to sadly shake his head. “I’m sorry. It’s not up to me, my sweet boy. A lady is going to come here tomorrow morning to take you to the airport and to New York.” 

Tears started pouring down Peter’s face. “No. Please daddy. Don-don’t send me ‘way! I promise I’ll listen to you and mommy and-and I won’ be bad.” 

Tony picked Peter up and moved him closer to himself on his lap. He held him and gently rocked his baby back and forth on the bed. “Shh. You’re not bad, baby, and mommy and I aren’t sending you away. We have no choice but to send you for a few days. Please don’t cry.” 

Peter pulled away from Tony a bit to look at him. “Can-can you and mommy come to New York with me?” 

Tony shook his heart, feeling his heart break. “No. We can’t. I’m so sorry.” 

Peter let out another sob and buried his face into Tony's neck to cry loudly. Tony stood up with Peter and began rocking him back and forth in his arms. 

He felt his own tears burn his eyes at what was about to happen. 

.  
.  
.

Pepper walked into Peter’s bedroom with red rimmed eyes. 

It had been over two hours since she left the room and cried silently in the bathroom downstairs. She knew that Tony had taken care of the rest of the conversation with their baby and that Peter had fallen asleep since then but what she wasn’t expecting was for Peter to be asleep in his bed with Tony holding him against his chest. 

She approached the two of them and sat down, leaning against the wall. Tony looked over at her, taking in her state then looked away. 

“How did he take it?” She asked him, afraid of the answer. 

Tony was silent for a long time before speaking. “He didn’t want to go and begged us not to send him then cried himself to sleep so it went perfect.” Tony said with no emotion in his voice. He felt dead. 

The two of them stayed in Peter’s bed with silent tears pouring down their face until early morning. 

Pepper left the bedroom first and went to go lay down in hers and Tony's bed while Tony stayed with Peter for a little bit longer. When he left, Tony went downstairs to make himself a coffee then sat at the kitchen table, pulling out his computer to try and figure out a way to prevent these people from taking their kid away from him. 

Tony lost track of time and before he knew it, he had no leads and it was almost time for Peter to leave. 

He went upstairs where he found Peter silently sitting on his bed, dressed in his clothes while he watched Pepper pack his overnight bag. 

Peter immediately looked up at Tony and ran into the man’s arms, whimpering softly into Tony's shoulder. Tony rubbed his back and whispered reassurances to him while Pepper continued packing things into Peter’s bag. 

The doorbell rang so Tony placed Peter back on his bed. “Stay with mommy, baby. I’ll be right back.” 

Tony left to go answer the door. He already knew who was there but he still couldn’t help but hope it was the neighbours so Peter wouldn’t have to be taken away from him so quickly. 

When Tony opened the door, it was no one other than the social worker; Maria Hill. 

Tony stepped aside to let her in, not saying anything. 

“Good morning, Mr. Stark.” Maria said and Tony only looked at her. Who the fuck says that at a time like this?

Pepper walked down the stairs with Peter’s suitcase but Peter wasn’t there. 

Maria started talking. “I understand how difficult this must be for you guys-” 

Tony cut her off. “Difficult? This is unimaginable what these people are about to put our kid through. He’s six years old, he has a life here. With us. Not them.” 

Maria nodded. “I understand, Mr. Stark. Believe me, I’m on your side but this is what has to happen.” 

Tony shook his head and opened up the front door again. “No. Actually it doesn’t so you can leave. Peter won’t be going anywhere so you can leave.” 

Tony stood there with the door open but Maria didn’t make any move to leave. “Mr. Stark, can you please shut the door. It’s going to be me or the police that pull up and take your kid away but either way he is going to New York today.” 

Pepper let out a sob but didn’t run away this time. Tony reluctantly shut the door. “Is my kid going to be safe with those people. I did some research on this Ben guy. He spent the last seven years in jail. He’s dangerous and now I have to send my son to his house.” 

Maria nodded, obviously knowing that information. “I can assure you Mr and Mrs. Stark that Ben has gone through rehabilitation over the last seven years and was deemed fit by a judge to be able to have a child enter his home.” 

“Was the judge on fucking cocaine? How am I supposed to trust that?” Tony ran a hand through his hair and when Maria pulled out a stack of paperwork and handed it to Tony, he grabbed it from her and tossed it onto the table that was by the front door. “That’s bullshit.” 

“I personally went to the Parkers house. Peter will be safe there, I can assure you.” Maria said. 

“If anything happens to my son, Ms. Hill, I’m holding you responsible.” Tony threatened but he meant it. Maria Hill will always be known as the person in his life that took his son away from him. 

She nodded then started talking. “On the first visit Peter will be told that the Parkers are close friends. On the second visit he will be told that the Parkers are his other mommy and daddy and on the third on final visit he will be told the truth.” 

Tony didn’t say anything. Third and final visit. Three weeks and his baby would be gone. He looked over at Pepper who was full on crying now but then he glanced upstairs and saw Peter peeking his head through the railing so Tony ran up the stairs and took him into his arms. 

Peter was holding onto Tony as if his life depended on it when Tony walked down the stairs, towards the social worker. 

“I love you so much, Peter. Mommy and daddy will see you so soon, okay?” Tony said to him and kissed the side of Peter’s head. 

Pepper was rubbing Peter’s back and tried to hold in her tears. “I love you my baby.” 

Peter shook his head against Tony. “No. I don’t wanna leave! Please daddy!” 

“It’s gonna be okay.” Tony tried to reassure him but he wasn’t sure if that was the truth or not. He kneeled down so he could place Peter on his feet. “I love you so much.” 

Peter shook his head. “I don’t wanna go. No” 

Pepper kneeled down as well and kissed the side of Peter’s face. “We love you, baby.” 

Maria reached forward to grab Peter’s bag and then grabbed Peter’s hand. “We have to go now, Peter.” 

Tony and Pepper stood up fully and watched Peter leave. “Come with me to the airport.” Peter said desperately but Tony shook his head again. 

“We can’t, Petey.” Tony's heart has shattered into millions of pieces. He felt so empty. 

Peter was reaching back for them as Maria picked up Peters car seat with her other hand and then opened the back door of her car to put the car seat in the back. She helped Peter into his seat and Tony shut the front door because he couldn’t watch it anymore. 

Pepper ran upstairs but Tony didn’t have any energy in him to follow her. He could still hear Peter crying for him outside of the house and it was killing him to not run outside and take his baby into his arms and protect him. 

Peter was leaving and there was nothing he could do about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are doing okay with everything going on. I’ve been writing about 75% of the time and the other bit I’ve been watching tv:) and painting and I think today I’m gonna help my mom take the backyard tarp off the outside furniture


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s another chapter:)

Peter was feeling so broken inside. 

He didn’t really understand what was happening to him and what was going on. All he knew was that he was scared and he wanted his daddy more than he’s ever wanted his daddy before. 

Maria was nice. She helped him calm down in the car as they drove to the airport and then when they got there, she even carried him the whole time and let him drink a smoothie from McDonald’s. 

It still didn’t stop the pain in his chest whenever he thought about mommy and daddy. 

Peter had been on a plane before but it was a lot smaller and not full of people. He always went on planes with mommy and daddy only so seeing all the people on the plane was kinda scary. 

He turned around to reach for Maria for her to pick him up again but she didn’t. Instead she told him to sit down in one of the seats by the window so Peter did that. 

Peter looked outside at the ground and watched the plane take off in awe but then he thought about how he was getting further and further away from mommy and daddy so he started to cry again. 

A lot of people were looking at him but he didn’t care one bit. 

The rest of the journey to New York went pretty much the same way. Peter would be okay one minute and then the next minute he would burst out crying. 

When they arrived at a house in Queens, New York, Peter peaked out of his back door window and saw two people standing there. Maybe that was the people that wanted to see him. 

Maria had shut the car off and got out to walk around to his side of the door. She opened it up and undid the buckles for him as Peter looked over her shoulder at the two new faces. 

She helped him out of the car and then grabbed his overnight bag from the trunk. 

“Hello Peter. My name is May and this is my husband Ben.” The women walked up to him and said. 

Peter noticed that her hair was really long and he liked it. 

Maria walked up to his side. “Peter, this is May and Ben and you’re gonna be with them for tonight, okay? So you have to listen to do like you would your mommy and daddy.” 

Peter shook his head. “No, I don’t want to. Where are you going?” 

“I’m going to leave now but I’ll be back to pick you up in two days.” Maria explained and then handed Ben Peter’s bag and left. 

Peter watched her leave with wide, wet eyes. Maria was the person who brought him to New York and she was the only person who could bring him home and now she was leaving. He felt his bottom lip wobble. 

He pointed to the car that was driving down the street. “Tell her to come back. I want my mommy and daddy.” 

The women, May, smiled at him. “You’re gonna stay with us for tonight. She’ll be back tomorrow but remember, you have to listen to us and be good.” 

Peter nodded. He was always a good boy at his friends house because his mommy told him to be respectful when he was at others houses. He didn’t want his mommy to be mad at him if he didn’t listen. 

Peter looked towards the street and saw that the car was gone so he turned to his new friends. He looked up at May through his eyelashes.

“I like your hair. It’s long.” 

May smiled at him then looked up at Ben and back to him. “I like your hair. Look at those curls.” 

“Hey little man. What do you say we go inside and you can check out your bedroom?” Ben asked him but Peter didn’t want to. He wanted to go home to daddy but Maria said he had to listen to them so he nodded and grabbed Ben's hand. 

Once they got inside, Ben led him through the living room and down a hallway into a blue bedroom. Peter let go of Ben's hand to look at everything in the room. “Is this my room?” 

“Yeah, it’s all yours.” Ben smiled proudly at him. 

Peter looked at everything in the room. He didn’t understand why he had a bedroom in this couples house. He only had one bedroom and that was at his house. 

“Ben and I painted it ourselves and we decorated everything the way we thought you’d like it.” May explained happily and Peter turned to them. 

“Thank you.” He knew mommy would be proud of him for using his manners. 

“You’re welcome, honey. Hey, how about we go check out what Ben is building in the backyard.” May held out her hand so Peter took it and walked with the two of them into the backyard. 

“Woah. Is that a tree house?” Peter asked excitedly because he’s never seen one in real life before. Just on tv. 

“Yeah, I started building it but I figured that we could finish building it ourselves.” Ben said and walked towards the house with Peter running after him. 

Suddenly a dog appeared out of nowhere and ran up to Peter, almost knocking him over. “Coco! Get out of here.” Ben yelled. 

“Are you scared of dogs, Peter?” May asked him after Coco had run away. 

Peter shook his head. “No but your dog is big.” 

Both adults laughed at what he said. “Coco doesn’t get to meet new people often so he was just excited to meet you.” May explained. 

Peter nodded then lifted his arms up towards Ben so he could get a better view of the tree house. Ben looked at May who had appeared at their side before leaning down and placing Peter on his hip. 

“Woah. You’re heavy.” Ben exaggerated but Peter shook his head. 

“No. Daddy says I’m not heavy so he can carry me forever.” Peter said and crossed his arms. His daddy was super strong and Peter wanted daddy to carry him even when he’s old. 

An angry look crossed Ben's face and it scared Peter at first but then he was being lifted up onto the tree house. 

“Ahh! It’s too high.” Peter panicked. He felt his heart beating really fast as he looked over the edge of the tree house and saw that the ground was so far away. He let out a whimper and felt the tears burn his eyes. “I want down!” 

“No, I’m coming up. It’s not that high.” Ben said as he climbed up but even when he was up there, Peter still didn’t feel safer. He wanted his daddy and he wanted down. 

Tears were pouring freely down his face now as he reached desperately for May. “Ben, he’s scared! Bring him down.” 

Peter looked over at Ben and pointed to the ground but instead of putting down on the ground, Ben lifted him up and sat him on his lap. “Stop crying, little man.” 

Peter shook his head and tried to get out of the man’s arms but Ben was too strong. “Hey, hey. How about May goes inside and brings us out some cookies? Would you stop crying then?” 

Peter pointed to May. “Can I go with h-her?” 

Ben shook his head. “No. You stay with me but you need to stop crying first. Be brave.” 

Peter tried to stop crying. Mommy and daddy always encouraged him to let his emotions out because it was healthy for him, he’s never been told to stop crying before and he hated it. 

After he wiped away his tears desperately, he stopped crying and tried to stop the sad hiccups that were starting. Ben lifted him off his lap and leaned over the side. “Hey, May? Wanna bring us some cookies?” 

“Alright. Just make sure he doesn’t fall off.” May warned before going back inside the house. 

Peter looked at Ben. The man kinda looked scary. He had really mean looking eyes and Peter didn’t like his voice. 

“So, tell me about yourself. What are you into?” Ben asked him but Peter didn’t know what he meant. “What’s your favourite colour?” 

“Red.” Peter answered. 

“Alright. What’s your favourite thing to do at home?” Ben asked. 

Peter thought about all his favourite things. “Um, me and my daddy run on the beach together every night.” 

Peter missed that. He missed how daddy would hold him in his arms as he rocked him side to side and they would sometimes get to watch the sunset together. He always felt so safe with his daddy. 

Ben got that look in his eyes again and Peter shrunk in on himself. “So you live on the beach?” 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. By the big ocean.” 

Ben stared at him for a few long seconds but then May was walking out and holding a plate of cookies. “Hi boys. Look what I have?” 

Peter would normally be jumping up and down at the sight of cookies but he didn’t care that much. He really wanted to go on the ground now, “Can I go down?” 

Ben shook his head. “What? No way. We’re having fun up here, right?” When Peter didn’t answer, Ben asked again. “Right?” 

Peter nodded his head but it wasn’t true. 

May brought the cookies up and climbed up there with them. Peter moved a bit closer to her to feel a bit more safe. 

After they talked some more and finished all the cookies, Ben was playfully hitting him in the arm but it hurt a lot. “Time for you to have a shower and then to bed.” 

Peter felt his heart beat speed up. He shook his head. “No. I don’t wanna.” 

“You have to. Remember Maria said that you have to listen to us?” Ben waited for Peter to nod his head. “So let’s go inside and we’ll give you a shower then you go to bed.” 

Peter shook his head and looked at May. “Please. I don’t want to.” 

May looked at him sadly as Ben picked him up by the underarms and held him in front of him. “You mr are going to listen to us.” 

He placed Peter on the ground and then jumped off of the treehouse. May got down as well and held her arms out for Peter but Ben stopped her. “No. I think we should leave him up there until he agrees to take a shower.” 

“Ben. No, you’re scaring him.” May said to him and hit him on the arm. 

Peter wasn’t sure if they were going to help him down or not. He was so scared and he felt his eyes start to burn again. 

Peter shook his head, desperately wanting to come down. “Please. I’m scared.” 

Ben stared at him for a few seconds but Peter was too scared to look away. He felt frozen. “Be brave, little man. You should be brave like me.” 

May was looking between the two of them with a worried look on her face. “Ben, stop it.” 

“Alright. Fine. Let’s go.” Ben held his arms out for Peter so Peter held his arms out as well and then he was being placed on the ground again. 

They walked into the house and headed to the bathroom where Ben sat on the closed toilet seat and dragged Peter so that he was standing between his legs. 

May stood in the doorway nervously and watched them. 

“Now Peter, you have to take a shower to get all clean. I’m not giving you an option. I’m telling you.” Ben said firmly and was grabbing onto his arms tightly. 

Peter shook his head and let out a whimper. “No, I don’t want to.” 

“Then I’ll help you,” Ben stood up and grabbed the bottom of Peter’s top and pulled it over his head and turned the shower on. 

“Nooo! Let me go! I want daddy!” Peter shook his head aggressively to try and get the scary man’s hands off of him. His daddy always told him that if someone he doesn’t know tries to grab him and take him into their car then he should do everything that he can to get away which included lots of screaming, kicking and biting. 

Ben wasn’t bringing him into his car but he was still a bad man. Peter leaned his head forward and bit Bens hand that was holding onto his arm. 

“Ow! What the fuck.” Ben let him go with one hand and looked at the bite mark on his hand. 

“Ben, stop it. Let him go.” May pleaded but Ben showed his wife his hand. 

“Look what he did to me, May. This isn’t normal behaviour. What are they teaching him?!” Ben yelled and grabbed onto Peter again only for Peter to let out another scream. 

Peter tried to run away but Ben's grip on him was too tight. He cried out and shook his head, terrified of what Ben was going to do to him. 

“Okay. Enough, Ben! You’re scaring him and he’s going to go home and tell everyone what you did.” May yelled at her husband and reached over to shut the shower off. “Get out. Let me do this.” 

Ben stared at her for a few long seconds then mumbled something under his breath and left the bathroom. May shut the door behind him and took over Bens seat on the closer toilet lid. “It’s okay, Peter. You don’t have to shower. Ben just wanted you to be clean, that’s all.” 

Peter tried to stop his loud crying. “He’s mean. I want my daddy.” 

May looked sad. “No, no he’s not mean. He just really cares about you.” 

Peter shook his head. That man didn’t make him feel good and he hurt his feelings. He wasn’t nice. 

“I wanna go home, please.” May cupped his cheeks and looked into his eyes. 

“How about we just get a face cloth and wash your face and your arms down, okay? Does that sound good?” May asked and when Peter nodded, she stood up and grabbed a face cloth then wet it down and started to wipe his face down. 

Peter looked at her while she was cleaning him. She was really pretty, not as pretty as his mommy though. His mommy’s hair was so soft and him and daddy always smelt it because it smelt so good. 

“Such a cute little face. Look at you.” May said as she poked his nose, causing him to let out a tired giggle. 

“Let’s go to your bedroom now and get your pyjamas on.” May put the cloth in the sink and led him down the hall and into his bedroom. 

Peter held May’s hand tightly on the way to his bedroom in fear of seeing Ben along the way but thankfully they didn’t bump into him. 

May shut his bedroom door and opened up his overnight bag. She pulled out a stuffed monkey and showed it to Peter. “He’s cute.” 

Peter saw his monkey and grabbed it from her, hugging him to his chest. “His name is Bananas.” 

“Aw, that’s so cute.” May cooed and then dug in the bag until she found a pair of pyjamas for Peter. “Do you need help getting dressed?” 

Peter shook his head. “My daddy always gets me ready for bed.” 

“Well, I can help you now if you want?” May suggested but Peter shook his head. 

“No thank you. I’m a big boy.” Peter put his monkey on the bed and then pulled off his pants and his underwear and put it in the corner then sat down on the floor so he could put his pants on. He laid his top out in front of him and put his on. Peter then picked his monkey back up and turned to look at May. 

“I’ll tuck you into bed, honey.” May said so Peter let her pull the sheets back and then he crawled in and tucked his monkey under his chin. 

She ran a hand through his hair lovingly and it reminded Peter of the way daddy does it to him. “You’re so precious.” 

Peter smiled at her then placed his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes. He knew mommy and daddy hated it when he sucked his thumb but they weren’t here right now and he wanted comfort so he didn’t care. 

He tried to think about being at home in between his mommy and daddy in their bed while daddy plays with his hair and puts him to sleep. 

May watched Peter drift off into a deep sleep. She stayed with him for a few more minutes before leaving after she took a picture of him. Her son. 

When May opened Peter’s bedroom door, Ben was standing there. “Oh. You scared me. What are you doing?” 

Ben peeked in the room. “Is he okay? I didn’t mean to scare him, May. I swear.” 

May nodded and went to shut the door but Ben stopped her. “Wait. Let me see him.” 

“He’s sleeping. Please be quiet.” May warned as she watched Ben wall into the bedroom and look down at the child. His face softened and he lifted the blankets up a bit more before leaving the room. 

“I love you so much, May.” Ben said and quietly shut the bedroom door then pressed a kiss to Mays lips. “We’re parents. That’s our boy in there.” 

May nodded but there was something that felt so wrong about it. 

.  
.  
.

Tony had been calling his lawyers and social services all day. 

He was trying to figure out how to stop the Parkers from taking his kid but things weren’t looking so well. Everyone that he spoke to told him that they couldn’t do anything to help him and that the Parkers had the right to their son. 

Tony had thrown his phone against the wall, breaking it. He wasn’t going to give up but he didn’t see anyway he could stop this. 

Pepper walked up behind him and sat down next to him. Tony shut his computer and looked over at her. Her face looked pale and her eyes were red and puffy. 

He looked away. He hadn’t seen her look so bad since her sister died two years ago. If anything she looked even worse now. 

“Did you find anything?” She asked, although Tony knew that she knew what the answer was. 

He shook his head and put his face in his hands. “No. Nothing.” 

“It’s gonna be okay. We’ll figure this out.” Pepper tried to sound reassuring but Tony heard no hope in her voice. 

He stood up without a word and went to go sit in Peter’s empty bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I named the dog after my cat coco. I love my cat but he hates me. Also fun fact, I put my cat on top of the door the other day like the small bit on top of the thin door but then I couldn’t reach to take him down and if he jumped I was scared he would break his legs so o had to stand on this fake horse thing my mom has in her room I wish I could show you guys pics of my cat!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh we’re almost to the end of this fic! I’m so excited for you guys to read this chapter ahh

Peter woke up confused. 

It took him a few seconds for everything to come back to him but once it did he felt the tears burn his eyes. He thought that he was at home and then he was going to run downstairs and jump into his daddy’s arms but he was in a different State. 

He thought about the day before and how rude Ben was to him. He didn’t want to face the man today or ever again for that matter. 

He pushed the blankets off of him and got out of bed with his monkey. He needed to pee and then he wanted to eat something but he was too scared to ask for anything. 

Peter quietly opened his bedroom door and tiptoed down the hall and into the bathroom where he placed his monkey on the floor and tugged his pyjama pants down to his ankles then went pee. 

After he pulled his pants back up and washed his hands, he picked his monkey up and walked into the kitchen where he was alone. He didn’t know what time it was but his stomach was hungry. 

Mommy or daddy always had breakfast ready for him when he woke up and sometimes if it was the weekend then they would eat it on the beach. 

Peter sat himself down on the kitchen table and played with his monkey until someone woke up. 

About an hour later, May was walking into the kitchen. “Peter? When did you wake up?” 

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe three minutes ago.” 

He looked behind him to see if Ben was following May but thankfully he wasn’t. 

“Are you hungry, honey?” May asked as Peter watched her fill a coffee pot. 

Peter nodded and sat on his knees. “Yeah. Can I have pancakes?” 

May opened the freezer and pulled out a box of Eggos. Peter meant the way you cook them from the bowl and put them on the stove but he didn’t say anything. He watched May put two of them in the toaster and pour a glass of apple juice for him. 

He drank half of the apple juice while he was waiting for his toasted pancakes then him and May sat together; her drinking her coffee and him eating his Eggos. 

They were laughing about the way Coco was eating his food because he was taking really big bites and Peter found it funny. 

Ben then walked into the kitchen and ruffled Peter’s hair. Peter’s smile dropped. “Did you sleep good, little man?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Uh huh.” 

Ben poured himself a cup of coffee and sat next to Peter. He looked at his monkey and smiled. “What’s this?” 

Peter hugged his monkey protectively to his chest. “My monkey. His name is Banada.” 

Ben laughed. “Cute.” 

They continued to eat in silence and suddenly Peter really wanted to go home. “When’s Maria coming?” 

May took his plate and cup from him and her smile fell a bit. “Um, she should be here in about two hours to take you home.” 

Peter didn’t know how long two hours would be but he hoped they would go by quickly. “Hey, how about you get dressed and then we’ll do something fun?” Ben suggested but Peter didn’t know what else could be fun other than Maria picking him up. 

Peter nodded his head nonetheless and walked into his bedroom where he placed his monkey on the bed and pulled off his pyjama pants then struggled with his shirt for a while. 

Mommy or daddy was always there to help him with that part. Peter couldn’t get his head out of the hole and his arms were already stuck. “Um, I need help. Please.” 

Peter heard someone walk in the room and he hoped that it wasn’t Ben. “Oh Peter.” It was May. “What happened here?” 

“I got stuck.” Peter explained and then he heard another voice. 

“I’d say. You got all tangled up.” Ben said and then May pulled the top off of him and he looked over at Ben who was leaning against the doorway and eating an apple. 

Peter looked away from him and turned to his overnight bag to pull out his clothes with the help from May. 

“We’ll be in the kitchen if you need any more help, okay?” May said. 

“Okay but I’m a big boy.” Peter didn’t want Ben to help him at all so he would get ready on his own. He sat down on the floor and pulled his underwear on then his socks and his pants. Next was his top so he quickly pulled that on and then walked back out into the kitchen. 

As soon as Ben saw him, he smiled and walked over to him, lifting him up and placing Peter on his hip. “Let’s go outside.” 

Peter struggled in his arms to get down but Ben didn’t let him go. He tried to reach for the floor but Ben squeezed his leg. “Ow. Want down.” 

Ben ignored and continued walking out into the backyard. 

May followed the two of them out and sat down in one of the lawn chairs as Ben placed Peter on the ground and handed him a tennis ball. “Throw this and Coco will chase it then bring it back to you.” 

Peter grabbed his upper leg where Ben hurt him and winced. He could still feel the pain but he was too scared to say anything. 

He took the ball from Ben's hand and threw it as far as he could. He watched as Coco chased it and then ran towards him, stopping just before knocking Peter over and placing the ball by his feet. 

They continued doing that for the next hour and a bit until Maria showed up. 

Peter couldn’t wait to go home. He wanted to be in his daddy’s arms and get kisses from his mommy. 

“Hi Peter. How was your time here?” Maria asked and Peter smiled, taking Maria’s hand in his. 

“Good. Are we going to the airport now?” Peter asked but then May was grabbing his other hand gently. 

“Can we have a hug goodbye, Peter?” She asked him so Peter let go of Maria’s hand and hugged May. “It was so much fun having you visit us, Peter. We can’t wait to see you again.” 

Peter didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to visit them again but he hugged her back anyways and then hugged Ben. “It was nice having you, little man.” 

“Bye bye.” Peter said, grabbing Maria’s hand again. She led him to her car and helped him into his car seat, doing up his buckles and then shutting the door and putting his stuff in the trunk. 

Peter waved bye to his new friends through the car window as Maria pulled away. 

.  
.  
.

Peter saw his house come into view. He was bouncing up and down in his seat since he was so close to seeing mommy and daddy. 

Maria pulled the car into the driveway and Peter saw his parents standing outside and waiting for him. He tried to take his buckles off but he had to wait for someone to help him. 

Tony opened the back door as soon as the car was put in park. “Daddy!” 

“Hi baby.” Peter was reaching out for Tony so Tony quickly undid his car seat and lifted his baby into his arms. “I missed you so much.” 

“I missed you too, daddy.” Peter wrapped his arms around Tony's neck and then saw Pepper so he reached for her. “Mommy!” 

Pepper smiled and took Peter out of Tony’s arms. “Hi my baby boy. I missed you.” 

Pepper carried Peter inside so Tony grabbed the bag and car seat from Maria. “It went well. He had a good time.” 

Tony didn’t say anything. He took the stuff inside and shut the door then went to go find his boy. Peter was sitting on Peppers lap as they sat on the couch with Peter talking a mile a minute. 

Tony picked Peter off of Peppers lap and placed him on his own lap instead. “Daddy. I was sitting on mommy.” 

“And now you’re sitting on daddy.” Tony said in the same tone that Peter used on him. “Tell us about May and Ben. Were they nice?” 

“May has long hair. It’s pretty.” Peter said and then smiled at Pepper. “But I love mommy’s hair more. Mommy’s hair smells so good.” 

Pepper laughed and leaned against Tony's shoulder. “But what about Ben, what’s he like?” Tony asked. He wanted to know what the man’s like, if he’s actually equipped to deal with a child. 

“Bens a meanie. I didn’t want to go up in the tree house because it was too high but he said I had to stop crying.” Peter explained and Pepper started rubbing a hand over Peter’s knee. 

“He made you cry?” Tony asked, ready to kill this man. 

Peter shrugged. “He said I had to shower but I didn’t want to so he was going to keep me in the tree house forever.” Peter threw his arms up in the air. 

“Then what happened?” Pepper asked, encouraging Peter to continue. 

“Um, then we went into the bathroom and Ben took my shirt off but I didn’t wanna shower so May cleaned my face with a washcloth.” Peter explained and leaned against Tony's chest. That was his favourite spot in the world. 

“Well why did Ben take your shirt off?” Tony asked him, some random man had no right to take his child’s shirt off. 

Peter shrugged. “Don’t know. I bited him. Then May helped me get my pyjamas on and I went to sleep with Banana.” 

Tony and Pepper looked at each other in shock. “You bit him? Why, baby?” Tony asked. He wasn’t mad at his kid for biting the man, proud actually, but he wanted to know why his son bit someone. 

“He’s a meanie and was going like ah ah ah.” Peter scrunched his face up and imitated someone yelling. 

“He was yelling at you?” Pepper asked, her voice breaking. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. I was scared, daddy.” 

Peter cuddled against Tony’s chest so Tony held his baby tighter. Where the hell were they being forced to send their son? 

“I’m so sorry that he yelled at you, Peter. That wasn’t very nice of him.” Tony said and rocked his boy gently in his arms. He didn’t want to freak out in front of his son, he was dealing with so much already. Peter nodded his head, agreeing. 

“What did you do today, baby?” Pepper asked. She was leaning her head against Tony's shoulder and running her hand over Peter’s knee still. 

“I ate toaster pancakes.” Peter said like it was the end of the world. Both adults laughed. “Then we went outside and played with Coco.” 

“Who’s Coco?” Tony asked as he ran his hand through Peter’s curls. 

“Coco’s their dog. He’s huge. He almost knocked me over so many times.” Peter explained and yawned then stuck his thumb in his mouth. 

Tony and Pepper looked at each other. Peter always sucked on his thumb when he was overwhelmed or scared or very rarely if he’s over tired and sometimes they’ll go to wake him up and he’ll have his thumb in his mouth but then he’ll admit that he had a bad dream so that explains why but Peter is happy and content now so there’s absolutely no reason for him to be sucking on his thumb. 

Tony slowly took Peter’s thumb out of his mouth. “Peter, you know mommy and I don’t want you doing that.” 

Peter looked down. “I know. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, baby.” Pepper said and caressed Peter’s face. “Did you do that at Mays and Bens?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. When I went to sleep.” 

Tony and Pepper looked at each other again. They tried so hard to break that habit since they knew Peter was too old to be doing that and that it would cause dental problems. “You’re home now, Petey, so you don’t need to worry about that anymore, okay?” Tony reassured him. 

“Okay. Can we go watch the sunset now? I missed it.” Peter lifted his head up to ask. He really missed being in his daddy’s arms and watching the sunset with mommy. 

“Of course. We missed it too, it wasn’t the same without our Peter here.” Tony said as he stood up and held Peter on his hip. 

The three of them made their way outside like they would every evening together. It felt so good to be back in his daddy’s arms so Peter clung to him as tightly as he could. 

Once they made it to the beach, Peter wiggled out of Tony’s arms and ran down the beach until he made it to the ocean. He missed feeling the sand between his toes and the ocean water burying his feet deeper into the sand. 

Tony picked him back up once the two of them made it to Peter’s side. Tony placed Peter back on his hip and wrapped his arm around Pepper. 

The family stayed and watched the sunset together and tried to forget the reality of their life for a few moments. 

.  
.  
.

“Okay, our kid is bathed, in pyjamas, in bed and asleep.” Tony said after putting Peter to bed. He sat down on the couch next to Pepper. 

“Did you put his after bath cream on?” She asked him. Pepper was always the one to do it because Peter got too silly when his daddy did it and would roll all over the bed. 

“Of course. He made a dash for the stairs but I caught him before he could get anywhere.” Tony explained and put an arm around Pepper but she didn’t seem to be in a good mood. 

“I can’t believe he actually liked it there.” Pepper said and Tony removed his arm. 

“Well I think it’s better than him absolutely hating it and being miserable.” Tony would have been heart broken if they were awful to his baby and mistreated him although he didn’t know what truly went on there. 

Pepper looked at him offended. “I can’t believe you would say that. Peter likes them. He must know that they’re his real parents and that... I don’t know, he has some special connection with them.” 

Tony put his hand over hers to calm her down. “Pep, Peter doesn’t know those are his biological parents and he doesn’t have a special connection with them. He doesn’t want to go back there so I’m gonna do everything I can to stop this.” 

“You heard the lawyers, they said to leave it and spend as much time as you can with him because nothing we can do will work.” Pepper was nearing tears as she spoke. 

Tony didn’t know what else to do. He had spoken to over one hundred people on the phone and in person but there was still nothing that anyone could do to help him. 

“I’m gonna go to New York first thing tomorrow morning.” Tony decided. 

“What are you gonna do?” Pepper asked, concerned. 

“I’m gonna talk to Ben. See if I can get him to stop this bullshit and let us keep our son.” Tony had no idea how that would play out but he had to try. 

“Tony, don’t do anything stupid. Peter needs you. He needs us both here for him.” Pepper sounded desperate but Tony wasn’t going to do anything and risk getting arrested where he’d be useless to protect his kid. 

.  
.  
.

After saying goodbye to Peter and explaining to him that he was going to go on a little business trip for a day, Tony drove to his private plane and flew to Queens, New York. 

He found out where Ben worked and drove to his construction site. It was in an extremely ghetto part of the city and it only made Tony wonder what their house looked like since he wasn’t able to find an address. 

He knew if he really tried then he could easily find it but Peter was at home with Pepper, he was safe so he didn’t see a need to do that. 

Tony sat in his rented car for over an hour, waiting for Ben to finish his shift and walk to his truck. 

After a long hour, Tony watched Ben walk out of the building in dirty work clothes. Tony didn’t see the resemblance in Peter at all. This man looked disgusting, trailer trash and he looked like an alcoholic. 

He walked past Tony's car so Tony took that as his opportunity. He got out of his car, slamming his door and putting his sunglasses on. 

“Mr. Parker.” Tony called out to the man. Ben turned around and looked at Tony up and down. He looked extremely surprised to see someone dressed up so nice at a place like that. 

“Uh, yes. Do I know you?” Ben asked, alarmed. 

Tony stuck his hand out and shook Ben's hand. “I’m Tony Stark, Peter’s dad.” 

Ben's eyes narrowed at him. “Ah, I see. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Stark, uh, how can I help you?” 

“I want you to stay away from my kid and my family. Leave us alone.” Tony lowered his voice and watched Ben look him up and down once again. 

“He’s my son, Stark. I didn’t sign no adoption papers.” Ben said but Tony didn’t care about any of that. 

“You’re gonna fuck up his life. He’s a happy kid, he has his friends at home, he goes to a good school and he’s loved.” Tony told him, feeling himself get angry. He hated this man so much. 

Ben narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying I can’t give him that?” 

“I’m saying you can just not with my kid.” Tony said and Ben was silent so Tony started to say what he originally came here for. “I’ll give you ten million dollars right now for you to sign these papers and stay away. Ten million, straight into your account.” 

Ben's eyes widened and he took a step back. “Woah. Fuck. Ten million.” 

“Yep. Just sign these.” Tony handed Ben the papers and he looked at them. Tony actually thought that he was going to sign them but something didn’t feel right. 

“You know, Stark,” Ben started. “you’re a very wealthy man. You have your multibillion dollar company so I’m pretty sure you can come up with twenty million dollars instead.” 

Tony could not believe this guy. He wanted even more money, although Tony would give his entire fortune if it meant he would get to keep his baby. 

“Fine. Twenty million dollars. Sign the papers and we can both walk away. You’ll have enough money to have as many kids as you and May want. You can move out of New York, hell, move out of the country even.” Tony listed off everything but he sensed that Ben wasn’t going for it. 

“You know, I’m hurt, Stark.” Ben said then began ripping up all the papers. “I’m hurt that you think that I can be bought off. I don’t want your fucking money.” 

Ben tossed the ripped up pieces of paper at Tony’s chest. Tony took off his sunglasses and stepped towards Ben to grab onto his shirt and push him up against his truck. “Then what the fuck do you want?” 

Ben tried to push Tony off of him but Tony didn’t let him. “I want my kid.” 

Tony let go of him and took a step back. “You can’t have him.” 

Ben straightened out his work shirt and stuck the middle finger up at Tony. “Fuck you, Stark. Fuck you.” 

Tony gave him the middle finger right back and watched Ben get into his truck and drive away recklessly. He wanted to scream so badly and punch something, preferably Ben's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that. Oops


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii guys! I hope everyone is doing ok! I was helping my mom do some gardening today and I bent my wrist a weird way and now it really really hurts:(

“I don’t know what else you want me to do!” Tony yelled. Peter wasn’t home so he wasn’t holding back. 

“I want you to fix this!” Pepper yelled back. 

“I’ve done fucking everything!” Tony screamed and then realized that it was getting out of control so he turned away from Pepper and took a calming breath. This whole situation was tearing this family apart. “I’m sorry. Just… I don’t know what else to do. He doesn’t want money. He just wants Peter.” 

Pepper sat down on the couch, defeated. “So that’s it then? We just give up? We give up and we lose our son. Peter goes to live with these people and in a year or two we’ll be nothing but a distant memory.” 

Tony couldn’t listen to that anymore. He walked towards the back door, shoving it open and walking down the stairs of the deck to go get Peter who was playing on the beach with his friends and their mom. 

Tony saw Peter running into the ocean and jumping over the waves. Normally, he would have stayed to watch his son laugh and run around but not now. 

“Peter!” He called out to him and then saw Peter turn his head to look at him. 

“Daddy! Watch me jump over the waves!” Peter yelled back and Tony could hear his kid giggling from the shore. 

He walked over to Peter and picked him up. “Come baby, it’s bath time.” 

Peter tried to get out of Tony’s arms. “No, daddy. The sun is still up.” 

Tony moved Peter to his hip and waved bye to Natasha. “I know. We’re gonna go in the bath early tonight so you and I can spend some time together in our pyjamas.” 

Peter smiled excitedly. “Bath time with daddy. Bath time with daddy. Is mommy gonna come too?” 

“I don’t know, baby. I think she’s busy.” Tony said and then walked up the deck steps and opened the back door. 

Pepper was sitting on the couch but Tony ignored her as he walked past the living room. “Mommy, are you gonna join Peter and daddy bath?” Pepper didn’t get a chance to respond because Tony was carrying him into the hallway and up the stairs. “Daddy, you’re walking too fast.” 

“Sorry, Pete.” Tony walked up the stairs and walked into his and Peppers bathroom. He placed Peter on the floor and then started the bath, pouring a decent amount of bubble bath in it. 

Peter took off his swim shorts and tossed them on the floor. “There’s sand in my bum, daddy.” 

Tony looked at Peter and saw all the sand over him. This happened every time Peter played outside and he was too scared of the shower so he just had to have a sandy bath. 

“I can see that, Petey. How did it get there?” Tony laughed and moved Peter closer to him so he could try and brush some of the sand away. 

“I put sand down my pants.” Peter explained. 

Tony laughed at his son's explanation. “Well, that’ll do it.” 

“Hi mommy.” Peter waved to Pepper in the doorway as she walked in and sat on the closed toilet seat. 

“Hi Peter. Is daddy brushing all the sand off of you?” Pepper asked. 

Peter nodded. “Uh huh. I put sand in my pants.” 

Pepper laughed and looked over at Tony then back at Peter. “Why would you do that?” 

“Because it makes my pants fall down and it’s funny.” Peter explained and did a little dance then turned towards Tony. “Is it ready now? I wanna go in.” 

“Yeah, it’s all set.” Tony shut the faucet off and then Peter climbed in and started playing with the bubbles. 

The three of them stayed in the bathroom while Peter played in the bath and then Tony washed Peter’s hair and went to rinse him down with the bathtub shower handle. 

“Stand up, Pete. I need to rinse all the soap and sand away.” Tony said as he grabbed it and went to turn it on. 

“No! Not the shower. It’s scary.” Peter stood up but went to push Tony's hands away. 

“It’s not the shower, baby. I promise it isn’t scary.” Tony tried to reassure him but Peter still shook his head. 

“How about you hold daddy’s hands while I rinse you off, does that sound okay?” Pepper offered and Peter thought about it for a few seconds before holding his hands out for Tony and nodding. 

Tony stood Peter up so that he was half holding him on the ledge of the bath while Pepper rinsed him down, making sure to rinse his hair and get all the sand off his body. 

After he was all clean, Tony held him up so Pepper could wrap him in a towel. Tony placed Peter back on the floor then they headed into their bedroom. 

Now that things were starting to calm down, Peter wasn’t splashing them in the bath and making a mess, Tony's mind was starting to think back to everything and how their life was very quickly falling apart. 

He laid Peter on the bed and sat with him while Pepper put his after bath cream on and then Peter was getting dressed and jumping on Tony's chest. 

“Oof. What are you doing you little monkey?” Tony poked Peter in the stomach and then rolled over so he could crush Peter against the bed but he made sure not to put his full weight on him. 

The sound of Peter’s giggles echoing in the room was what Tony and Pepper always wanted to hear from their kid. 

Peter and Tony started to play fight on the bed like they would occasionally do while Pepper watched them. Everything was perfect in that moment, the sound of Peter having fun while Tony picked him up and tossed him into a bunch of pillows but then after the two boys ran out of energy, Peter stopped laughing and looked over at Tony. 

“Daddy?” Peter asked. He was lying on his back next to his dad who was also lying on his back. 

“Yeah, Pete?” Tony asked, lifting himself up a bit so he could turn towards Peter. 

“Um, do you really love me?” Peter avoided his dad's eyes and when Pepper moved to sit by their legs, Peter avoided her eyes as well. 

“What? Of course I love you, Peter. Me and mommy both love you more than anything in the entire world, baby.” Tony sat up fully and rubbed Peter’s belly. 

“Why do you say that, sweetie?” Pepper asked Peter, concern deep in her voice. 

Peter shrugged. “It’s just… I don’t like going to Mays house and-and then it seemed like you and daddy stopped loving me all the way because-because you always sad when I’m around.” 

Tony felt his heart break apart. Him and Pepper had been trying to put a brave face on for Peter so he wouldn’t see that they were breaking down inside but Peter, the smart boy that he is, picked up on their fake little act but misinterpreted it for them not loving him anymore. 

Tony wasted no time in picking Peter up and holding him on his lap. “Peter. I need you to look at me and listen to what I’m about to tell you.” Tony waited for Peter to fully look at him. “Mommy and I love you so so much. We know that you don’t like going to Mays house and we hate that you go because we always miss you so much when you go.” 

Peter stuck out his bottom lip. “Then why do you send me there? I wanna stay home with you.” 

Pepper moved closer to the two of them so she could rub Peter’s back. “It’s not up to us, baby. I know you don’t understand but just know that if it was up to us then you wouldn’t be going there.” 

Tony wasn’t sure if they should be saying all these things to their six year old child. 

Maybe it would do more harm than good. 

“I just wanna stay with you forever.” Peter said and placed his head on Tony's chest as he brought his thumb up to his mouth to begin sucking on it but Tony immediately pulled his hand away from his mouth and held it instead. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, baby.” Tony placed his hand over Peter’s head and moved his thumb across his soft temple. 

That night Peter fell asleep between both of his parents where he felt the most safe in the world. 

.  
.  
.

The next week had been a mixture of a bunch of different emotions for the Starks. 

One minute they were all together and enjoying their last few days together before Peter had to leave them again but then they would think about what’s going to happen and it would bring their mood down. 

Tony and Pepper tried to stay happy for Peter but it was extremely hard, especially since Peter could easily pick up on their emotions. 

That morning, the day that Peter was leaving them for another night, was harder than the first time. 

Tony had gotten nowhere with trying to stop Peter from leaving them and it was killing him. 

Pepper was in Peter’s bedroom packing his overnight bag while she got Peter dressed and ready for the day. When Tony walked in, he could tell that Pepper was trying so hard to hold her tears in and be brave for Peter. 

Peter looked over at Tony when he entered the room and then ran over to him and held his arms up. “Daddy, I don’t wanna go.” 

Tony didn’t say anything. He picked Peter up and held him close to his chest as Peter cried into his shoulder. There wasn’t anything for him to say because Peter had to go and Tony couldn’t keep a promise and say that he doesn’t have to go. 

“The social worker should be here soon.” Pepper announced with no emotion in her voice as she picked up Peter’s bag and walked out of the room. 

Tony watched her leave but he didn’t say anything. He could feel that this time was harder on everyone, especially himself. He felt like a failure and that he couldn’t keep his son safe. 

The doorbell went off and Peter tensed in his arms. As Tony began walking out of his kids bedroom and down the hallway, Peter was crying into his shoulder. “No. No, daddy. I don’t wanna go. Please. I don’t wanna leave you, daddy.” 

Tony’s heart was breaking. “Baby, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

That only made Peter cry harder. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Maria was standing there with a sad look on her face. Tony hated her. 

“Hi Peter. Are you ready to go?” Maria asked him and Peter shook his head into Tony’s shoulder. 

“I’ll bring him out to the car.” Tony said as he grabbed the car seat with his other hand that wasn’t holding Peter on his hip. All four of them went outside to the car and Tony let Maria open the back door and put the car seat in for Peter. 

Pepper walked up to Tony with tears on her face and she laid her head on Peter’s back. “I love you, Peter. Daddy and I will see you when you get back.” 

Peter lifted his head up from Tony’s shoulder and shook it. “No. I don’t wanna go.” 

“I’m sorry, baby. It’s gonna be fun. We’ll see you soon.” Tony pressed a kiss to Peter’s face and bent down to put him into his car seat. He was trying to push Tony’s hands away from him so he couldn’t do up the buckles but he eventually got it. 

“Daddy, no!” Peter cried out before the door was shut. Pepper ran back inside the house and Tony looked over at Maria who was looking at him with a frown. 

“I’m so sorry.” She said but Tony didn’t say anything. He looked at his baby one last time before making his way into the house. 

Tony shut the front door and immediately went upstairs and walked into Peter’s bedroom. 

He didn’t know what was going to happen and that was the scariest thing. He had made a promise to Peter when he was born to protect him forever and he was failing that promise to his baby boy. 

Tony remembers the day that they brought Peter home so vividly as if it was yesterday. Sometimes he wishes it was just yesterday so he could watch his baby grow up over and over again. 

The thing that Tony remembers the most is the smell. Peter had smelt so freaking good that he would always take off Peter’s clothes so that he was just in his newborn diaper and Tony would hold him right under his chin on his chest so he could smell his baby’s newborn scent while also holding Peter close to his chest. 

It was his favourite thing to do. 

Tony smiled at the memory of that very first day. 

“Do you have the door?” Tony asked Pepper after he carefully pulled Peter’s car seat from the car. He was too scared to hold it by the handle so he was holding it from the base. 

He looked at his son in the car seat and saw his face scrunching up and that scared Tony because he didn’t know if Peter was in pain or not. 

“I got the door, just… don’t drop him.” Pepper said as she ran to quickly open the front door of their new house that was still half empty. 

Pepper had driven home from the hospital while Tony sat in the back seat with his sleeping brand new son. 

“Don’t say I’m gonna drop him. By saying that you’re gonna jinx me.” Tony eyed Pepper as he walked past her and walked into the house. 

Peter was opening his tiny eyes and looking around but he immediately started crying once he realized he wasn’t in the car anymore. “Shit. He likes the car, Pep. We have to go bring him back into the car.” 

Tony set the car seat onto the living room floor and kneeled down to stare at the newborn baby crying. He had no idea what to do. 

“We can’t do that every time he cries, Tony.” Pepper kneeled next to Tony as well. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re gonna spoil our son?” 

Tony smirked. “Because maybe I will spoil him.” 

Pepper reached into the car seat and quickly undid the buckles then ever so carefully, she lifted the newborn into her arms and tried to quiet him. “Shh shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.” 

Tony watched her, he didn’t know what to do and the sound was painful to listen to because he knew his baby boy was in pain or something. 

Tony reached his arms out. “Let me hold him. Maybe he just needs his dad.” 

Pepper smiled at Tony and then moved closer to him so she could transfer Peter into Tony’s arms. “Hold his neck. It’s fragile.” 

Tony knew that. Of course he did. He had Peter fully in his arms but he was scared to move him. Peter was so small and he didn’t want to accidentally break him. 

“Hi Peter. It’s your dad holding you.” Tony began and then stood up so he could sit on the couch with Peter cradled in one of his arms. “It’s okay to cry, you know. You should let it all out but you don’t need to cry right now, baby. You’re safe with me. I promise I’ll always keep you safe.” 

Peter had slowly stopped crying and had fixated his eyes onto Tony’s eyes and was staring at him so intently. Tony smiled at his baby and ever so carefully lifted Peter up so that Peter’s tiny body was resting over his heart. 

Tony leaned his head down a bit to smell the top of Peter’s head and noticed that he smelt so good. 

He made a promise to himself that day to never let anything bad happen to his baby. 

.  
.  
.

Peter watched his daddy leave him and he wanted so badly to go into the house and follow him but he knew he couldn’t. He was stuck in his car seat and he didn’t want to go on the airplane. 

Peter looked out the window and cried the whole way to the airport. When Maria parked the car and opened up his door to take him out of his car seat, Peter lifted his arms up to her because he was too tired to walk and he wanted someone to hold him. 

“I can’t carry you right now, Peter.” Maria said as she took his car seat out of the car and shut the door. Peter continued to cry as he followed her around to the trunk where she pulled out the two suitcases. 

After their stuff was in luggage drop-off, Peter raised his arms up towards Maria again who picked him up and carried him throughout the airport. 

The metal detectors were hard to get through since he didn’t want to let go of her but eventually he did and he ran through the detectors but then some old lady had to pat him down. Maria picked him back up after that and carried him onto the plane. 

After a long plane ride, they were landing in Queens, New York. Peter hated it there. It was so different from home and he didn’t like that May and Ben lived there. He didn’t like them anymore. 

Peter stopped crying once he was back in his car seat because he was too tired to do anything. 

He wanted his mommy and daddy more than anything but he knew that mommy and daddy couldn’t be with him. 

When Maria pulled up to the Parkers house, Peter looked out his window and saw the two of them standing there. Peter was mad. 

Maria opened his car door but he didn’t make any move to walk, he held his arms out for her so she sighed and picked him up and then turned to the couple. “It was a lot harder for him this time. He’s tired and not in the best mood.” 

Peter laid his head on her shoulder as he looked at May. “Aw, that’s okay. We can watch a movie together or something.” 

“Hey, little man. You wanna go back to our treehouse?” Ben asked him but Peter shook his head. 

Maria went to hand him over to May but Peter clung onto her tighter and whimpered. “No. I want mommy and daddy! Daddy!” 

He felt Maria pat his back and hush him. “Shh, it’s okay. You’ll see them soon but right now you have to stay with May and Ben.” 

Peter shook his head but he felt Maria moving him so he reached his arms out after he was being transferred over to Mays arms. 

She struggled to hold him at first so Peter wrapped his arms around her neck. 

After Maria handed Peter’s bag to Ben, they said their goodbyes and then disappeared into the house. 

May set Peter down on his feet once they were inside and then she walked into the kitchen. “Are you hungry, Peter?” 

Peter nodded his head and followed her into the kitchen.

“How are you, Peter?” Ben asked him, picking him up and sitting down on one of the chairs so he could place Peter on his lap. 

Peter didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to sit on Ben's lap. He started struggling to get away but when Ben didn’t let him, he scrunched his face up and started to cry. “Ben, let him go. He’s tired and hungry.” 

Ben stood up and placed Peter on the chair he was just sitting on so Peter stopped crying and wiped his face. “Excuse me for wanting to hold my son, May.” 

“Ben! Not now.” May warned him and then handed Peter a cup of apple juice. “Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, honey?” 

Peter nodded his head then watched Ben leave the kitchen and go outside. 

After Peter ate, he was feeling a little bit better but he still felt weird. He wanted daddy. 

Ben took him outside but Peter didn’t want to play on the treehouse and so Ben thankfully didn’t push it. 

After a few hours of playing outside, it started to get really windy and it began to rain so they both ran back inside where Peter helped May bake some blueberry muffins. 

He was actually having a really good time. They watched Toy Story 2 that Peter got to pick which he was so happy about. 

After the movie was done, May pulled out a board game. “How about we play a quick game before bedtime?” 

Peter nodded his head. He was sitting next to May on the couch and Ben was sitting on the loveseat across from them. 

“We’ll play one game and then you have to go in a shower.” Ben said and Peter felt his heart drop. 

He shook his head. “No shower.” 

May cut in before anyone could say anything else. “How about we play the game before we do anything else. I’ll go first.” 

Peter felt his mood immediately drop after Ben said that comment. He didn’t want to play the board game anymore and he especially didn’t want to go in the shower. He wanted to go home and be with his daddy. 

After about twenty minutes, the game was over and Peter wasn’t even happy that he won. He was terrified of what was going to happen next. 

“Aww good job, Peter. You beat us. How are you so smart.” May ruffled his hair and Peter smiled slightly. 

“Good game, champ. It’s time for your shower now.” Ben said. He popped a candy into his mouth and Peter glared at him. 

“No. No shower.” Peter crossed his arms. He had the right to say no. 

“Yeah, you have to listen to me and I say shower.” Ben said and chewed on his candy. 

Peter shook his head stubbornly. “I say no shower.” 

Ben raised his eyebrows at him. May was looking between the two of them nervously, she knew how her husband could get. “It’s okay. How about I take him and I can help him clean up like last time.” 

Ben shook his head then stood up. “No. No, May. You’re babying him, he can go in the shower, he’s not going to have a cloth bath like last time. Let’s go, Peter.” 

Ben stood in front of Peter and held his hand out for him but Peter shook his head. “I want daddy.” 

Before Peter had the chance to react, Ben was grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him to his feet. 

“No!” Peter screamed and tried to kick his legs out as Ben was holding him up by his arm and dragging him towards the bathroom. 

“Ben! Stop it! You’re hurting him!” May yelled and bolted up to stop Ben from hurting Peter. 

“You can’t keep babying him, May. He has to learn how we do things around here.” Ben said then dragged Peter into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bathtub. He aggressively grabbed onto Peter’s wrists and held him so that he was standing in front of him. 

Peter was crying loudly and tried to get away from Ben but the man was too strong. “I don’t want to shower!” 

Ben reached over and turned the shower on. “You have to! You have to get clean, little man.” 

“Ben! Stop it! Please!” May yelled as she watched from the bathroom door. 

Peter tried to reach back for her but Ben was standing up and stepping into the bath and pulling Peter in it with him. “No! Nooo!” 

Ben ran his hair under the water. “Look! We’re showering with our clothes on! Look at us!” 

Peter screamed and tried to open his eyes but the water was pouring in his face and he was choking on it. 

“I don’t like it! I want out!” Peter cried and tried to get out of Ben's arms but he was holding onto his arm too hard. 

“Look at us! We’re having fun!” Ben laughed really loud and it was scaring Peter. 

“I want daddy! I want my daddy!” Peter cried out but then Ben was squeezing his arm even tighter. 

“No! No, Peter. I am your daddy.” Ben said but Peter shook his head. 

“Ben! Not now. We have to wait! Stop it!” May yelled at him and rushed over to try to get Ben to let go of Peter. 

“No, May, he has to know the truth. We can’t keep living like this while some other people raise our son!” Ben yelled at May over the shower running and then he turned to Peter. “I’m your real daddy, Peter. And May is your real mommy. We’re your parents!” 

Peter shook his head. “No! No you’re not! I want daddy!” 

Ben shook Peter and squeezed onto his upper arm tighter. “No Peter!” 

“Ow! You’re hurting me!” Peter tried to move his arm away from Ben but it was no use. 

“Enough! You hurt him, Ben!” May yelled. She shut the shower off, grabbed a towel and picked Peter up with it then she carried the crying child into his bedroom and shut the door. 

She placed Peter on the floor and attempted to dry his hair the best he could with the towel as Peter cried loudly. 

“I want-I want my daddy!” Peter cried out and tried to wipe his tears away. He was wet and cold and scared. 

“I know. I wish I could give him to you, baby. I’m so sorry.” Peter watched as a tear fell down Mays cheek. 

He lifted his hand up to wipe it away because he hated seeing people cry. 

“Aw baby. It’s okay. I’m okay.” May sniffled then moved to grab Peter’s overnight bag and pulled out some pyjamas. “Let’s get you into some dry clothes.” 

Peter nodded his head and lifted his arms up so May could pull his wet and sticky shirt off of him and then she helped him get his jeans and underwear off before wrapping the towel around him again. 

“I want daddy.” Peter cried out again. He was hiccuping sadly now and all he could think about was being with his daddy at home. He missed him so much. 

“I know. I know you do. You’ll see him tomorrow, okay? I promise you.” May said and helped him get his pyjama pants and shirt on then she was handing his monkey to him and pulling back the blankets on his bed so he could crawl in. 

May laid down next to him and smiled when Peter turned to face her. “Go to sleep, honey.” 

Peter put his thumb in his mouth, knowing mommy and daddy would be upset at him for it and then he shut his eyes and tried to think about something happy. 

May watched Peter drift off into a deep sleep but she continued to stay with him until early morning. She had no idea where Ben went but she didn’t really care. 

The next morning after breakfast, Peter went outside with May and was sitting in the grass and playing with Coco the big dog. 

Peter actually really liked him. He had a really big head but he was really calm. It was his favourite dog out of all the dogs that he’s ever met. 

Peter was pulling the grass out of the ground and putting it onto his lap when May walked over to him from hanging up his wet clothes on the clothesline. 

She kneeled down in front of him. “Hi Peter.” 

Peter weakly smiled up at her. “Hi.” 

“What are you doing?” She asked him and then sat down in front of him. 

Peter looked up and pulled more grass out. “Just pulling grass.” 

She smiled at him and then reached over and pulled a dandelion out of the ground. She held it in front of him. “Do you know what this is?” 

Peter looked at it. “A weed.” 

She laughed but shook her head. “It’s a lot more than just a weed but not everyone knows that.” 

Peter looked at it curiously. “What is it?” 

“It’s a magic flower. You see all these little fluffs?” She held the flower out to Peter so he could see it. He nodded. “Well, inside each of the fluffs there’s a wish. You have to think really hard about something that you want so badly and then you blow. And it sets your wish free.” 

“Sets free?” Peter tilted his head and looked at the magic flower. May nodded. “Like it flies away so it can go home?” 

May nodded again and handed Peter the flower. “That’s right. You’re so smart.” 

Peter smiled. He got that from his daddy. He took the magic flower in his hands gently and then May was standing back up and walking back to the clothesline. 

Peter looked down at his wish and shut his eyes. He thought about what he wanted more than anything in the world. He liked May but he didn’t want to come back.

He scrunched his eyes tight and wished to stay with his mommy and daddy forever then he opened his eyes and blew his wish away. 

.  
.  
.

It was time to go home and Peter was so happy but he still couldn’t stop himself from crying after he saw Ben walk through the front door. 

“Maria is going to be here any minute.” May said as she finished packing Peter’s bag. She walked towards the front door and Peter chased after her. 

“Can I have a hug bye, Peter?” Ben asked as he grabbed Peter’s hand but Peter screamed and pulled his arm away from the bad man. 

“Stop it, Ben.” May warned and then opened up the front door and Peter ran out. 

Maria was showing up just in time. Peter ran towards the gate and excitedly jumped by it. That obviously wasn’t a good sign for Maria to see because Peter should be by Mays side and not wanting to leave her instead. 

Maria didn’t say anything. She got out of the car and opened the gate, only for Peter to jump into her arms. “I wanna go home. I want mommy and daddy.” 

Maria rubbed his back. “Alright. We’re going home now. Can you say goodbye to May?” 

Maria looked around and didn’t see Ben which was odd but she didn’t say anything. She would have to add it to the report. 

Peter nodded his head and so Maria put him down and then Peter was walking over to May and hugging her. “I’ll miss you, Peter. Remember the magic flower, baby.” 

Peter nodded his head and then climbed into the car and let Maria put his car seat buckles on so he could go home.

.  
.  
.

When Maria pulled the car into his driveway, Peter started to whine and reach out towards his window because he could see his daddy and mommy waiting for him but he was still too far. 

Once the car was parked, Tony walked over and opened the door. He immediately saw that Peter was crying and trying to reach for him so he quickly unbuckled him and pulled Peter into his arms. 

“Oh baby. What’s wrong?” Tony asked as Peter cried into his shoulder. He looked towards Maria who was handing Pepper the bag and car seat. 

“I think this time was a lot harder for him. I tried to ask him what happened but he wouldn’t tell me.” Maria explained. “May has agreed to give you guys an extra week to say your goodbyes.” 

“Thank you.” Tony said and then they were walking into the house and shutting the door. 

“What’s wrong, baby? What happened?” Tony asked and looked over at Pepper who was looking at Peter concerned. 

Tony placed Peter on his feet but then Peter was making a dash up the stairs. 

Both adults looked at each other before they followed Peter up. Tony peeked in Peter’s bedroom but he wasn’t there so they walked over to their bedroom and found Peter curled into a ball in the middle of the bed. 

Tony and Pepper sat next to him. “What happened, Peter?” Pepper asked as she placed a gentle hand on Peter’s back. 

Peter lifted his head up and cried out, “Ben hurt me!” 

Tony felt his blood run cold. “What? What do you mean? How did he hurt you?” 

Peter grabbed his arm and held it. “He-he made me take a shower with my clothes on!” 

Pepper covered her mouth and Tony ran a hand through his hair. “Oh my god. That fu- oh my god.” Tony got up to pace the bedroom. 

“Baby, can you show us?” Pepper asked and then watched as Peter pulled his sleeve up to reveal a giant bruise on his upper arm. “Oh my god. Tony, look at this.” 

Tony kneeled on the bed. “I see it, Pepper. Ben did this to you?” Tony asked Peter and he nodded. 

“I’m calling my lawyers. I want pictures taken of him so we can use this against them.” Tony said as he pulled out his phone and got off the bed. “Did he hurt you anywhere else, baby?” 

Peter shook his head but he looked unsure so Tony pointed to Pepper. “Can you take his clothes off and check. I’m gonna go call.” 

As Tony left the room, Peter turned to Pepper and held his arms out for her. “Oh my sweet boy. I missed you so much, baby. It was really bad, was it?” 

Peter nodded his head into Pepper's chest. “Yeah. I didn’t wanna shower but Ben made me.” 

“It’s okay, you’re home now and you’re safe. Daddy’s gonna take care of it.” Pepper reassured Peter and then took his clothes off to see if he had any more bruises on his body. 

To her relief, it was just the one on his arm so she took a few pictures of it and then they walked downstairs hand in hand. 

Tony had just gotten off the phone so Peter walked over to him and lifted his arms up. “Is he okay?” 

Pepper nodded her head and went into the kitchen to grab a juice box for Peter. “Yeah, it’s just the one. I took the pictures.” 

Tony sat down on the kitchen stool with Peter in his lap and then Peter shifted so that he was facing him. “Are you my real daddy?” 

Tony wasn’t expecting that at all. He looked over at Pepper with wide eyes and then looked back at Peter who was looking up at him with big brown, trusting eyes. 

“Well, bud, do you think I am?” Tony asked and Peter nodded. 

“Yeah, you’re daddy. But-but Ben said that he’s my real daddy and May’s my real mommy.” Peter said sadly and then looked down at his hands. 

Pepper sat next to them and put the juice box aside. Both adults looked at each other and Tony knew that they were thinking the same thing, they wanted to kill Ben. 

“Peter, I’m gonna tell you something, okay?” Peter nodded his head and looked up at him so Tony continued. “May and Ben were the ones who made you. That means that you share their blood, their DNA but let me tell you something, blood doesn’t mean anything. Mommy and I wanted you so so badly so we chose you to be our little boy and we love you more than anything in the whole entire world.” 

Peter tilted his head. “But then why did Ben say he’s my daddy?” 

“He’s not. I’m your daddy, baby. I’m the one who loves you and who’ll do anything for you. Ben hurt you and have I ever hurt you?” Tony asked him and when Peter actually thought about it, Tony laughed and playfully poked Peter in the stomach. “Why are you thinking about it?” 

Peter laughed. “Because one time I was bad and you smacked my bum and it hurt.” 

Both Tony and Pepper laughed. “Yeah, and I’d do it again if you misbehaved but that’s different. Ben forced you to go in the shower after you said no, right?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah. He dragged me down the hall and I was screaming.” 

Pepper flinched and Tony felt his blood run cold but he tried not to let that show right now. “That’s not love, Peter. That’s the difference. He created you but he isn’t the one who loves you like mommy and I do. Do you understand?” 

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t want to go back, daddy. I’m scared.” 

Tony placed his hand on Peter’s head and brought it to his chest. “Oh baby. I’m gonna do everything in my power to stop that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter:)) the scene where it was a flash back when Tony and Pepper first brought Peter home, that was requested by @Stressedspider :)))) 
> 
> One more chapter to gooo


	7. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh this is the last chapter!!! I hope you guys like it :)))

After Tony and Pepper gave Peter a bath that night, Tony put him to bed and waited for him to fall asleep before he walked downstairs and sat next to Pepper on the couch. 

“We have to leave the country.” Tony said. He had been thinking about this a lot and it seemed like their only choice. 

Pepper looked at him. “What? Are you serious?” 

Tony nodded. “Yes. It’s the only way. Look, I know how to get fake passports and how we can lay low for a few weeks before buying a house and moving into it.” 

Pepper was shaking her head. She looked unsure. “Tony, you can’t be serious. What you’re talking about is illegal. We would get jail time and Peter would be taken away from us forever. No way.” 

“No, Pep. This is the only way. I’m not losing my son. I can’t lose him.” Tony shook his head and looked down. He would do anything to keep his kid with him. 

“Tony, you know what we’d be giving up?” Pepper asked but Tony already knew. “We’d be leaving our house. All of our stuff and our family and friends.” 

“We’d have Peter.” Was all Tony said. It was all he needed to say. 

It was enough for Pepper to think about it for a few seconds before nodding her head. “Okay. Okay, you’re right.” 

For the next week, Tony had been secretly meeting with a bunch of different people to help get fake passports, names and some money. 

He bought airplane tickets to Italy where they would stay low for a few weeks and then eventually move somewhere else. Tony had a family house there that no one knew about so it would be the perfect place to hide out. 

They told Peter that they were going to be going to be going away for a little bit but they didn’t tell him the truth. They didn’t tell him that this would be the last time he would ever sleep in his bedroom or see all his toys. 

It was sad, Peter grew up in that house but it was necessary and their only option. 

Peter was so excited the whole ride to the airport since his mommy and daddy were coming with him. 

Tony couldn’t stop the anxious feeling he had. He kept looking over his shoulder to see if anyone had caught up to them or figured out what they were really doing but so far they were good. 

After they landed in Italy and were in the taxi and headed to the house, Tony felt like he could fully relax. They made it that far so they were safe. It was going to be okay. 

After they were dropped off, Tony paid the guy and grabbed the bags from the trunk. 

“Woah! It’s so cool here! Look mommy, I can see the ocean!” Peter pointed to the ocean that was about a ten minute walk from the house. 

“Woah! I see it too. How about we go change into our swimsuit and then we’ll go check it out?” Pepper suggested and Peter was bouncing up and down. 

Peter ran into the house and was excitedly running from room to room like he always did when they went someplace new although Peter’s never been to Italy before so it was something entirely different for him. 

“Daddy? Where’s my bathing suit?” Peter eagerly asked. 

Tony put the suitcase down on the bed and opened up Peter’s so he could dig through it. “Here it is! Go ask mommy to help you.” 

Peter was already stripping out of his clothes and Tony just laughed and rolled his eyes at his kid before helping Peter get his swimsuit on then he went into the bathroom to change into his own. 

Pepper walked out in a bikini and Tony’s eyes widened. “Woah. Look at you, Mrs. Stark. You maybe wanna have some fun tonight after we put baby Stark to bed?” 

Pepper laughed and kissed Tony on the lips before pulling away. “I’d rather baby Stark sleep with us on our first night, Mr. Stark.” 

Tony sighed but he would rather that as well. 

“Let’s go! My body wants to swim!” Peter yelled impatiently and tugged on Tony’s bathing suit. 

“Okay, let’s go before he turns into a fish on us.” Tony laughed and then they were walking down the dirt path through the small forest to get to the beach. 

It was getting pretty late so they didn’t plan to stay there very long. Once Peter saw the ocean, he was making a dash towards it so Tony and Pepper took their time walking after him. 

“Hey, not too deep Peter. Knee high.” Tony warned and Peter rolled his eyes at him. “And watch your eyes or they’ll fall out of your head.” 

Pepper laughed. She wrapped her arms around Tony’s body. “I’m so glad we did this. I just hope it works.” 

Tony pulled Pepper closer to himself. “I hope so too.” 

They watched Peter splash in the water and roll around and then he was grabbing a bunch of sand and dumping it down his pants like he used to do at home, their old home. 

“What are you doing?” Pepper laughed and then Peter was standing up and walking over to them with a huge smile on his face but then sand dragged his swimsuit down to his ankles. 

Tony bursted out laughing. “Looks like you got too much weight in there, kid.” 

Peter almost tripped as he made his way over to his parents and lifted his arms up to his dad. Tony picked him up and held him as Pepper took the pants to dump the sand out of them. 

“Walk towards the water, daddy.” Peter said and so Tony walked with Peter but Tony flinched at how cold the water was. 

“How were you dunking your head in this?” Tony asked. Peter just laughed at him and cuddled closer to his dad. 

“You ready for bed now, baby? We had a long day?” Pepper asked and rubbed Peter’s back but Peter shook his head and cuddled closer to his dad. 

“No. I wanna watch the sun set with daddy.” Peter said, he lifted his head up to look at Tony and saw his dad look at him so he laughed and put his head back down on his shoulder. 

“We can stay for ten more minutes, okay?” Pepper said and both boys nodded so she laid her head on Tony’s shoulder and he wrapped his other arm around her. 

They only stayed to watch the sun start to set but Peter was falling asleep in Tony’s arms so they decided to head back to their new home a few minutes early. 

Once they got back, Tony took Peter into the bathroom to quickly get him clean while Pepper put some clean bedding on the bed and got Peter’s pyjamas ready. 

Tony carried him out and sat him on the bed. “I forgot to pack his after bath cream.” Pepper announced. 

“It’s okay. We’ll go to the store tomorrow and find some. He doesn’t need it tonight anyways.” Tony said then got his half asleep kid into his pyjamas and then put him on the pillow. “I’m gonna go have a quick shower.” 

Pepper nodded and then started putting some of the clothes into the drawer. She would do the rest tomorrow and they would definitely have to go shopping for more clothes soon. 

After Tony was done, she went in and finished quickly so they could all fall asleep together. Well, Peter was already asleep between the two of them but it was still nice. 

.  
.  
.

The next morning Peter was the first one up and sat on Tony’s chest so he could jump up and down on his dad. “Daddy! Wake up!” 

Tony groaned and pushed Peter off of him. “Peter.” 

“Mommy! Wake up too! I’m hungry.” Peter stood up and bounced on the bed between his parents until Tony was groaning awake and going into the bathroom to go pee and brush his teeth. 

“Let mommy sleep. Let’s go get dressed.” Tony held his hands out for Peter who jumped into his arms. Tony rolled Peter’s suitcase into a random bedroom since they hadn’t decided what would be Peter’s bed yet. 

“But I’m hungry first.” Peter whined as Tony pulled some clothes out. 

“Take off your pyjamas and there’s no food in the house. We have to go get some breakfast and then go shopping.” Tony explained to Peter and then handed him his underwear and pants. 

Peter sat on the floor and put his legs through the leg holes. “Are we gonna go swimming today, daddy?” 

“We can. We have to head into the town first though.” Tony explained and Peter nodded. 

“Yeah, like to get breakfast.” Peter was nodding his head so Tony laughed and pointed to his underwear that was still not on.

“Chop chop. We have to hurry.” Tony helped Peter hurry up, otherwise they would be there for days and Peter would still be asking questions. 

“Why do we have to hurry?” Peter asked and let his dad do all the work for him. 

“Because if we don’t then mommy’s gonna get hungry and she’s gonna eat us.” Tony joked and poked Peter’s nose before lifting him into his arms as he stood. 

He walked back into his bedroom and saw that Pepper was just getting out of the bathroom and was dressed in white jeans and a yellow top. 

“You look nice. Should have taken you here a long time ago so I could see you in that outfit.” Tony kissed Pepper on the lips and then handed Peter to her but she put him down because he was kicking to get out of her arms. “I’m gonna go get dressed and then I told Peter we would go into town.” 

After Tony was done, the small family called a taxi that drove them into town which was about forty minutes away so by the time they made it there, Peter was dying to run around but Tony grabbed onto his hand. 

“Stay near us, baby.” Tony warned Peter so he would stop trying to run away. 

“Okay, daddy.” Peter grabbed onto Peppers hand as well so he was swinging between his two parents. 

They sat down at a tiny but popular restaurant that overlooked the ocean and they ate bread rolls and some fruit which Peter loved. 

After that, they walked to one of the bakery’s that had a tiny farm out front that was caged off and had a bunch of chickens and goats. 

Peter tugged on Tony’s hand. “Daddy, I wanna go see the baby ducks.” 

Tony laughed. “Those are chickens and they aren’t babies, baby.” 

Peter shook his head. “No. There. The baby ducks.” 

Tony looked towards where Peter pointed to and saw that there actually were ducks there. Of course Peter would want to look at those instead of the other animals. 

“Okay. Stay where I can see you.” Tony told him. “Mommy and I will be right inside the shop but I’ll keep my eye on you.” 

“Yay! Thank you, daddy!” Peter quickly hugged Tony and then took off into the tiny caged off farm that was there. 

Tony stood by the front of the shop so he could still look at some stuff but also keep his eye on Peter. 

Pepper disappeared off into the back of the bakery to shop for some things so Tony leaned against the outside wall and watched Peter. 

After about a few minutes, Pepper came rushing out and was grabbing Tony by the arm. “Tony. Tony, we have to go. Where’s Peter?” 

“What? What’s going on?” Tony asked, alarmed. 

“They found us. We have to go.” Pepper panicked so Tony ran into the mini farm and held his arms out for Peter. 

“Peter. Come here. We have to go.” Tony said and then Peter was turning to him and lifting his arms up with a panicked look on his face. 

Tony placed Peter on his hip and grabbed Peppers hand. They turned down the side of the store onto the empty road and quickly walked down it. 

“What’s going on, daddy?” Peter asked. “I’m scared.” 

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Tony reassured him but he knew it wasn’t okay. They were screwed. 

Just as they were about to turn the other corner, a police car pulled up in front of them and blocked them off. 

Peter buried his face into Tony’s shoulder and Pepper grabbed onto Tony’s arm. “Tony. What do we do?” 

He sighed. “Nothing. We got caught.” 

.  
.  
.

Peter stayed attached to Tony’s arms the entire car ride to the airport where they got deported and then he sat on Tony’s lap on the plane back to America. 

After many hours, they were back in America and Peter had fallen asleep in his dad's arms so they didn’t bother to wake him up as they were escorted off the airplane. 

“This social worker is going to take your son from you while you guys come with us.” A police officer told Pepper and Tony and then a lady appeared and smiled weakly at them. 

“Okay, let me just wake him up so he’s not confused when he wakes up and we’re not there.” Tony told the officer and then bounced Peter on his hip a bit. “Peter. Wake up, bud.” 

Pepper gently lifted his head up and then Peter was opening his eyes and yawning. “Mommy?” 

“Baby, mommy and daddy have to go talk to some people for a bit so you’re gonna go with this woman.” Tony said and then kneeled down so he could place Peter on his feet. 

Peter shook his head. “No. I wanna stay with you.” 

“You will. But not right now.” Tony stood up and nodded for the social worker to take Peter’s hand. 

“Hi there. My name is Julie. What’s your name?” The women asked to start a conversation with the child. Peter took her hand but started crying as she led him away. 

“Come with me.” The police officer led them into a room where there was one table and four chairs. “Maria Hill will be with you guys shortly.” 

Pepper fell into the chair. “Oh my god. Tony. We’re gonna get arrested. We’re going to jail oh my god oh my god oh my god.” 

Tony ran his hands through his hair and paced the room. “No. No we’re not. We can’t.” 

Pepper glared at him. “We got deported from Italy. We had illegal passports made.” 

Tony was about to say something else when the door was being opened and in walked Maria Hill looking extremely angry. 

She didn’t say anything as she put her bag on the table and sat down. She looked over at Tony. “Sit down right now.” 

Tony was going to say something back to her but he didn’t. He sat down, having never listened to anyone talk to him that way before but he was learning that he didn’t want to mess with Maria Hill right now. 

“What were you guys thinking?” She said in a low voice. 

Pepper covered her face with her hands so Tony spoke. “We didn’t want to lose Pe-” 

“No!” She cut him off and slammed her hands on the table, shutting Tony up. “You weren’t thinking. At all! I know you don’t like me very much and I don’t blame you but I am on your guys’ side. I was doing everything in my power to prevent the Parkers from getting custody of Peter and then you guys go and break so many laws. So many laws I can’t even count them all and now you lost all your rights to keeping that boy.” 

Pepper broke off into a sob and Tony felt his heart drop. “No.” He whispered. No. No. 

Maria held up her hand. “That’s what would have happened if I didn’t spend the last sixteen hours of my life fighting tooth and nail to keep you guys from going to jail and to stop Peter from ending up with the Parkers.” 

Pepper stopped crying and looked over at the women. Tony felt all the colour go back to his face and his heart start beating again. 

“So… so we didn’t lose custody of Peter?” Pepper asked with a shaky voice. 

Maria shook her head. “No. But I hope you understand how stupid what you did was and how close you were to never seeing your son again. I want you to understand that.” 

Tony and Pepper both nodded their heads. Tony felt like he was a child getting yelled at by his principal in his office. 

Maria pulled out some papers. “These are the adoption papers. May has agreed to stop fighting for custody of Peter.” 

Pepper let out a happy sob and Tony felt his eyes start to water. “Are-are you serious?” Tony asked, afraid that he was hearing things. 

Maria nodded. “Yes. I have personally witnessed Mr. Parker sign the papers and May is willing to sign them after she talks to you guys.” 

Tony looked at her confused. “What?” 

“May is outside the door.” Maria explained and then stood up to open the door and let May in before closing it again. 

May stood in front of the two of them. Tony noticed that her hair was the same colour as Peter’s hair. Nothing else looked the same. 

“Hi um, I’m May. I just want to say that I am incredibly sorry for everything that Ben and I have put you guys through.” May paused. “Everything that we put Peter through. I know he wasn’t happy with us, I saw it the very first day that we met him. I just didn’t want to believe it because I wanted so badly for us to be a family but that would have never been possible because he already has a family that loves him so much.” 

May broke off into a sob and waited a couple seconds to gather herself before speaking again. “I want you to know that Ben really does love Peter. He does but he’s not ready for a kid and I don’t think he ever will be. I know that now. I know that we hurt Peter by bringing him into our house and that was never our intention. I love that boy so much but I could never love him as much as his parents do so… I truly am sorry for everything.” 

Tony and Pepper didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say to that but the look on their faces was enough. 

May looked towards Maria who was standing behind her. May then grabbed the pen on the table and lined it up with the line that she had to sign. She hesitated. 

Tony and Pepper both held their breaths unconsciously. 

May took a breath and signed her name down on the paper and then slid it over to Tony to sign. 

Tony couldn’t get his hand to stop shaking as he signed the adoption papers. After he was done, he slid it over to Pepper who did the same. 

Pepper was then standing up and walking around the table to hug May. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” 

“It’s okay.” May hugged her back and then they pulled away. “Can I- can I say goodbye to Peter first?” 

Pepper nodded. “Of course.” 

“I’ll go take you to see him.” Maria said after she picked up the papers and put them in her bag. 

May left the room with Maria and Pepper jumped into Tony’s arms. “Oh my god. We did it. I can’t, oh my god.” Pepper cried happy tears. 

Tony felt a few tears slide down his cheeks and he wiped those away and hugged Pepper back. 

In the other room, Peter looked up from his drawing that he was doing with his new friend Julie to see May standing at the door. He smiled weakly at her. 

“Hi Peter.” May said and Peter waved at her then put his crayon down after he saw May walking towards him. “What are you colouring?” 

“My new house by the ocean in Italy.” Peter explained and showed May his half finished drawing. He looked up at her through his eyelashes. “Is-is Ben here?” 

She shook her head sadly. “No, honey. He’s not here. Can we go talk?” 

Peter relaxed at hearing that the bad man wasn’t there. He nodded his head and grabbed May’s hand then let her lead him to stand by the big airport windows. 

She kneeled down so she was at his height. “I want to say that I’m sorry. I know the time that we had together wasn’t very nice.” 

Peter shrugged his shoulders. “Only sometimes.” 

May nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry for that but guess what, you’re not going to be coming over to my house anymore. That was our last visit.” 

Peter tilted his head. “Why?” 

May smiled and tried to stop the tears from falling. “Well, remember the magic flower I told you about?” Peter nodded. “Well, sometimes people are like wishes. You have to set them free.” 

Peter smiled. “So they can go home?” 

May nodded and quickly wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks. “Yeah, exactly. I’m setting you free so you can go home and live a happy life with your mommy and daddy.” 

Peter threw himself into May’s arms. “Thank you!” 

He pulled away and then looked to his left and saw his mommy and daddy standing down the hallway so he took off running towards them. “Mommy! Daddy!” 

Tony leaned down and held his arms out for Peter to jump into. Once Peter did, Tony stood up and held his baby boy close to his chest. 

He was safe now. It was all over. 

.  
.  
.

“Daddy? Mommy says you have to hurry up or we’re leaving you behind!” Peter yelled as he bounced in the doorway impatiently. 

Tony was taking forever to get ready and Peter was sick of it. “Okay! Hold your swimsuit, I’m coming.” 

Tony ran towards the back door and scooped Peter into his arms then ran down the deck stairs and towards the ocean. 

He put Peter down in the sand, falling in love with the sound of Peter’s giggles. 

Pepper smiled at Tony so he walked over to her and leaned in for a kiss. “Peter said you were gonna leave me behind.” 

Pepper laughed as she kissed Tony back. “A light threat. You know we wouldn’t dream of it.” 

Tony pulled away. “Yeah yeah. Peter, come here, bud.” 

Peter turned towards his dad and ran into his legs, holding his arms up for Tony to pick him up. Tony set him on his hip and pulled Pepper closer to himself with his other arm. 

He pressed a kiss to Peter’s temple and hugged him closer as they watched the sunset together as a family. 

He told Peter that he would never let him go again and that was a promise he would keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank uuuuu sooo much for reading this fic! It was soooo much fun to write and so much fun to interact with all of you guys :) it’s sad that this is the last chapter but at least it is a happy ending:)


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